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Dr. Y. S. Parmar University of Horticulture & Forestry, Solan

Dr. Yashwant Singh Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Solan, was established on 1st December, 1985 with the objective to promote education, research and extension education in the fields of Horticulture, Forestry and allied disciplines. Late Dr. Yashwant Singh Parmar, the first Chief Minister and the architect of Himachal Pradesh perceived the importance of Horticulture and Forestry to develop and improve the State economy which led to the establishment of this University. Its history lies in erstwhile Himachal Agricultural College, Solan, established in 1962 and affiliated to the Panjab University. It became one of the campuses of Agriculture Complex of Himachal Pradesh University on its formation in 1970. Consequent upon the establishment of Himachal Pradesh Krishi Vishvavidyalaya in 1978, this campus became its Horticulture Complex and finally in 1985, assumed the status of a State University, being the only University in the country engaged exclusively in teaching, research and extension in Horticulture and Forestry. The University is located at Nauni in Solan District of Himachal Pradesh, 13 km from Solan on Solan-Rajgarh Road, at an elevation of 1300 metres above mean sea level. Solan town is situated on national highway (NH-22) and is well connected by train and bus services. The University has four constituent colleges, out of which, two are located at the main campus Nauni, one for horticulture and the other for forestry, having 9 and 7 departments, respectively. The third College i.e., College of Horticulture & Forestry is located at Neri in Hamirpur District on Nadaun-Hamirpur state highway, about 6 Km from Hamirpur town and is well connected with bus service. The college offers three Undergraduate Degree Programmes i.e. BSc (Hons.) Horticulture, BSc (Hons.) Forestry and B. Tech. Biotechnology and MSc degree programme in a few subjects. The fourth college i.e. College of Horticulture and Forestry, Thunag (Mandi) is located at Thunag District Mandi. This college offer BSc (Hons.) Horticulture and BSc (Hons.) Forestry degree programme. In addition, there are five Regional Research Stations, 12 Satellite Stations and five Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs) situated in different zones of the State.

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Subject: Agroforestry × Author: Rajput, Priyanka × End date: 2016 × Start date: 2012 × Type: Thesis × Thesis Type: Ph.D ×
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Carbon storage, soil enrichment potential and bio-economic appraisal of different land use systems in mid hill and sub-humid zone-II of Himachal Pradesh
    (YSPU, 2016) Rajput, Priyanka; Bhardwaj, D.R.
    The present investigations entitled “Carbon storage, soil enrichment potential and bio-economic appraisal of different land use systems in mid hill and sub-humid zone II of Himachal Pradesh” were carried out through experiments at different altitudinal gradient. These experiments were laid out in Randomized Block Design (Factorial). The present investigations were conducted to assess the biomass production, carbon stock, phytosociological study of vegetation and economic returns from the different land use systems along an altitudinal gradient and to identify suitable land use systems with high monetary return and carbon storage potential. Two altitudinal gradients were considered for the study viz; 914-1200 m.a.s.l. and 1201-1500 m.a.s.l. In each altitudinal gradient eight land use systems i.e. agriculture, horticulture, agrisilviculture, silvipastural, agrihorticulture, agrihortisilviculture, forest and grassland which were common to all the two altitudinal levels were selected. The total tree biomass was the sum of stem biomass, branch biomass and leaf biomass. The plot size for trees was 50 m × 20 m. The tree biomass was converted into carbon fraction by factor of 0.5 (IPCC default value). Crop, herbage, shrub, grass and litter biomass were estimated with the help of a 1 square meter plot. Soil attributes viz; soil physical properties (bulk density, particle density and pore space), soil chemical properties (soil pH, cation exchange capacity, soil carbon density, organic carbon, available nitrogen, available phosphorus, available potassium, exchangeable calcium, exchangeable magnesium and available sulphur) and soil microbial properties (soil microbial biomass C, microbial counts and microbial activity) were also analyzed. Data concerning economics of the land use systems were collected through interviews with the farmers and other person of the study area. The results have revealed that different land use systems have significant influence on the production of biomass productions and carbon stocks. Maximum above ground biomass (99.03t ha-1), below ground biomass (25.69 t ha-1) and total biomass (124.48 t ha-1) was recorded in forest land use system. Total biomass production of different land use systems followed the order: forest > silvipastural > agrihortisilviculture > agrisilviculture > agrihorticulture > horticulture > agriculture > grassland, respectively. This trend is same for carbon density (t ha-1) of different land use systems. In the effect of altitudinal ranges, the above ground biomass, below ground biomass, total biomass and carbon stocks, irrespective of land use systems decreased with the increase in altitudinal levels. Soil physico-chemical and microbial analysis revealed that maximum bulk density was recorded in the agriculture system (0.91 g cm-3) at par with grassland and minimum in forest system (0.66 g cm-3). Forest system recorded maximum amount of pore space (63.04%), pH (6.51), cation exchange capacity (10.97), organic carbon (0.92%), soil carbon density (21.63 t ha-1), potassium (198.80 kg/ha), calcium (3880.00 kg/ha), exchangeable magnesium (1192.00 mg/kg) and available sulphur (34.28 kg/ha) and all were at par with silvipastural land use system. Agrihorticulture recorded higher nitrogen content (404.78 kg/ha) and available phosphorus (14.26 kg/ha) which was at par with horticulture system. However, the nitrogen content (331.10 kg/ha) was minimum in forest system. In altitudinal range, soil physico-chemical properties were found to increase appreciably with the increase in altitudinal ranges. In soil microbial analysis, maximum microbial-C biomass was recorded in forest (429.73 μg/g), total microbial counts also (98.67cfu/g) in forest based land use system. In the effect of altitudinal ranges, microbial-C biomass and microbial counts, irrespective of land use systems increased with the increase in altitudinal levels. Maximum total ecosystem carbon pool (132.06 t ha-1) was recorded in forest land use system and followed the trend: forest > silvipastural > agrihortisilviculture > agrihorticulture > agrisilviculture > horticulture > grassland > agriculture, respectively. Irrespective of land use systems increased with the increase in altitudinal ranges. Rate of gross return was higher (477600.00 Rs ha-1yr-1) in agrihorticulture land use system, which was closely followed by the land use system of agrihortisilviculture, horticulture, agriculture, agrisilviculture, forest, silvipastural and grassland land use system, respectively in the descending order. Irrespective of land use systems the rate of gross return decreases with the increase in altitudinal levels. Maximum expenses followed the order: agrihorticulture > agrihortisilviculture > horticulture > agriculture > agrisilviculture > forest > silvipastural > grassland, respectively. Maximum net profit (62810.00 Rs ha-1yr-1) was attained by agrihorticulture land use system, which was closely followed by agrihortisilviculture (40585.95 Rs ha-1yr-1) and agrisilviculture (39003.00 Rs ha-1yr-1) land use systems. In altitudinal ranges, the net profit obtained increased appreciably from A1 to A2 altitudinal range. Benefit cost ratio was higher (1.15) in agrihorticulture land use system, which was closely followed the trend agrihorticulture > agrihortisilviculture > silvipastural > grassland > horticulture > forest > agriculture and agrisilviculture, respectively. From this study, it is concluded that agroforestry systems, particularly agrihorticulture and agrihortisilviculture land use systems are playing an important role in the biodiversity conservation, soil enrichment, carbon storage and improving the economic status of the farmers of the mid hill and sub-humid zone-II of Himachal Pradesh.