R. Lalnungrenga, Girish Chandra, M. Sankar, Esther Lalruatsangi and Kangujam Premkumar
Abstract
The paper is an attempt to determine the Phyto-diversity (vegetative) conditions under the undisturbed forest and different fallow lands following shifting cultivation by evaluating the species composition, diversity and abundance of trees, shrubs and herbs in Serchhip district, Mizoram, India. The Jhum cycle was of 7 years in the selected field sites. Each site was divided into classes of 0-2 years (where shifting cultivation is being practised) which are represented as SC (shifting cultivation), 2-4 years (fallow land) as JF1 which denotes Jhum fallow number 1, 4-6 years (fallow land) as JF2 which denotes Jhum fallow number 2 and NF (normal forest), i.e. forest which was untouched for at least 30 years. A total of 88 tree species and 66 genera belonging to 37 families, 53 shrubs species and 44 genera belonging to 28 families and 86 herb species and 73 genera belonging to 33 families were recorded from the study area. Our result showed that Schima wallichii was found on all the sites of the tree community. The herb community were dominated by early successional species such as Ageratum conyzoides, the herbaceous community were dominant in JF1, the shrub species were dominated by Clerodendrum infortunatum and Chromolaena odorata. The shrubs mainly dominated the JF2 and bamboo was also found abundantly in this fallow land.