Plant nutrient dynamics in different ecosystems of cold deserts of Himachal Pradesh, India

The present study was conducted in cold desert area to study the nutrient status and their utilization for understanding the importance, utilization and exploitation of the alpine pastures and other grazing areas. The fields where peas and pulses were planted were found to be possessing higher nitrogen contents than other areas due to the fixation of atmospheric nitrogen. However, the concentration of other nutrients such as P, K, Na and Ca was also found higher in agricultural crops, which was due to continuous cultivation plus the annual addition of farm yard manure and other fertilizers during the cropping season; associated with different annual crop rotation and long fallow period of nearly six months each year.