Dynamics of nutrients in temperate coniferous forests of north western Himalaya with special reference to available and total phosphorus

Forest ecosystems are important pool of nutrients with good retention potential, mostly depend on vegetation type, soil depth, elevation as well as seasonal fluctuation and have direct relation with changing environmental conditions. Standard protocols were adopted for estimation of phosphorus and results revealed that available phosphorus and total phosphorus highest at Site 1 and lowest at Site 3. Autumn season showed highest value followed by summer and spring respectively. Annual variation for total phosphorus was found highest during summer season while for available phosphorus it was found highest during autumn season. Depth-wise value revealed that both total and available phosphorus were found maximum at upper surface of soil compared to sub-surface layers. Forest vegetation have strong influence on Physico-chemical properties of soil especially phosphorus due to varying climatic conditions and are considered rich source of nutrients required for proper growth and development of vegetation growing in the forest ecosystem.