Vol. 11, Issue 12 (2022)

Author(s):
Deepshikha Nirala, DR Bhardwaj and Uday Bhanu Pratap

Abstract:
The study on “Altitudinal variation on physiological attributes of Cedrus deodara (Roxb.) G. Don in north-western Himalaya” was taken under four altitude range of <1800 masl (L₁), 1800-2100 masl (L₂), 2100-2400 masl (L₃) and >2400 masl (L₄) of Himachal Pradesh. This study represents the change in climatic conditions of Himalayan region may modify species distributions and performance of individual may also become affected in response to these variations along an altitudinal gradient. This study revealed that the highest total nitrogen (0.52%) and total carbon (0.72%) was found at <1800 m (L₁) followed by L₂, L₃ and L_4, respectively. The total nitrogen and total carbon content was decreased with increasing altitudinal ranges. The maximum total phenol (2.07 mgGAE/gm) was found at >2400 m (L₄) followed by L₃ (1.49 mgGAE/gm), L₂ (1.34 mgGAE/gm) and L₁ (1.21 mgGAE/gm). The total phenol content was increased along with increasing altitudinal ranges just opposite trend to total nitrogen and carbon. The highest chlorophyll (2.61 µg/ml), total sugar (7.76%) and total starch (9.61%) content was found at 1800-2100 m (L₂) and the lowest content was observed in L₁ (3.45%) and (5.30%), respectively. This study also revealed that the total nitrogen and total carbon content was decreased with increasing altitudinal ranges just opposite to total Phenol content in seedlings. Whereas, chlorophyll, total sugar and starch content were found maximum at 1800-2100 m and minimum content was observed at lower altitude.