Abstract

Influence of Biochemical Properties of Mangrove Leaves on Quality of Rhizosphere Soils

Author(s): Dasgupta M*,Ghosh A and Mukherjee S

Mangrove leaves contribute significantly to the productivity of various mangal ecosystems releasing different plant nutrients as well as maintaining detritus based food webs during their degradation in the soil-water system. Since biochemical compositions of these mangrove leaves play key roles in influencing the nature and magnitude of such decomposition processes, some major biochemical properties of the leaves of twenty four common mangrove species in Indian Sundarbans forest were studied in this investigation. The results were further correlated with some productivity attributes of these mangrove rhizosphere soils with the major objective of assessing the relevance of these properties in maintaining the productivity of the mangal soils. This primary study showed that there exists considerable variation in the occurrence of water soluble protein, carbohydrate and fat in the leaves of different mangrove species and these variations are likely to exert variable effects on the rhizosphere soil properties in various mangrove infested zones. For fetching comprehensive effects of nutrient cycling from these leaves, therefore, mixed populations of mangrove species are likely to be more important.