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HABITAT REQUIREMENT OF SELECTED GRASSES OF RAJKOT (HETROPOGON CONTORTUS, ARISTIDA ADSCENSIONIS AND MELANOCENCHRIS JACQUEMONTII)

Manish M. Jani, Jignasa B. Joshi, Amarnath N. Pandey

Earth’s surface, due to its heterogeniety, exibits innumerable types of habitates. In general, habitates with thick and fertile soils are characterized as good habitats whereas, degraded lands with thin and nutrient deficient soils are poor habitats. Annul grasses invade and grow abunantly on degraded lands. On the contrary, perennial grasses occupy the habitats with thick and nutrient rich soil [2],[5],[6]. Aristida adscensionsis L. and Melanocenchris jacauemontii J & S. are annul grasses and form a lush green ground vegetation during rainy season on degraded lands in semi arid and arid regions of western India. These annul grasses complete their life cycle extrimely rapidly until moisture is available and persist as dormant seeds during the dry period of the year. Heteropogen contortus L. is a perennial grass and grows on habitats containing relatively thick soil. One form of this species, which is specifically found in western India, lacks rhizome and behaves like annuals. The plants complete their life cycle by the end of monsoon period and therafter dry out. During next monsoon, one to few new tillers appear from the rootstocks which remain alive over long dry period of the year. The present investigation was carried out to understand the adaptation strategies of the aforesaid three grass species to their habitats.