Evaluation of Biological Diversity and Soil Quality under Plantations on Degraded Land

Biological diversity and changes in chemical properties of soil under Phyllanthus emblica and Azadirachta indica plantations raised on bhata wastelands of Raipur, Chhattisgarh State (India) was studied in September, 1998. The number of ground flora species under Phyllanthus emblica L. and Azadirachta indica A.Juss. were 18m^-2 and 22m^-2 respectively. On the basis of importance value index (lVI), Hyptis sllaveolens (L.) Poit. and Cassia mimosoides L. were the dominant herbs under Phyllanthus emblica and Azadiracllta indica plantations respectively. In general, distribution of most of ground flora species was contiguous. Index of dominance was lower and index of diversity was higher for ground flora under plantations than that of open bhata land. The ground flora under Azadirachta indica has highest diversity index (3.173). The index of dissimilarity between plantations and open bhata land was high which indicate remarkable degree of dissimilarity in ground flora species. However, there was plenty of similarity between two plantations as far as ground flora under them was concerned. The population of bacteria, fungi, nematodes, microarthropods and vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhizal (VAM) fungi spores were significantly more in soil under plantations than that of open bhata land. The soils under plantations have significantly high fertility status.