International Journal of Silviculture and Agroforestry ISSN 1720-349X Vol. 1 (2), pp. 009-016, February, 2017.  © Advanced Scholars Journals

Full Length Research Paper

Nutritional status in soil and plants of herbal crops under agroforestry system

*Jagdish Khan Singh, Gandhi Kapoor and Manmohan Kumar Mohan

College of Forestry, Navsari Agricultural University, Navsari (Gujarat) 396 450, India.

*Corresponding Author. Email: [email protected]

Accepted 18 January, 2017

Abstract

The present study was conducted to find out the nutritional status in soil and plants of herbal crops under Sapota-Jatropha based three-tier agroforestry system at the Agronomy Farm (Block-E), ASPEE College of Horticulture and Forestry, Navsari Agricultural University, Navsari (Gujarat) during rainy season 2011 and 2012. Three medicinal plants viz., Basil (Ocimum sanctum L.), Kalmegh ( Andrographis paniculata Well.) and Mint (Mentha arvensis L) were selected for the present study. The observations viz. organic carbon, N, P, K, Ca, Mg, Fe, Mn, Zn and Cu in soil were analyzed after harvesting. Intercropping of Basil, Kalmegh and Mint recorded higher nutrients namely, organic carbon, N, P, K, Ca, Mg, Fe, Mn, Zn and Cu in soil as well as in plant under Sapota – Jatropha cropping system as compared to sole crop. The trend was same in both the years as well as in pooled.

Key words: Agroforestry, basil, herbal, intercropping, kalmegh, mint, nutrient.