Understanding the Role of Litter Decomposition in Restoration of Fly Ash Ecosystem
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Understanding the Role of Litter Decomposition in Restoration of Fly Ash Ecosystem Vimal Chandra Pandey1 · Apurva Rai2 · Lal Singh3 · D. P. Singh1 Received: 29 April 2020 / Accepted: 14 September 2020 © Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract Plant species possess a huge potential in restoration of fly ash ecosystem. Litter deposition and its decomposition in the ash deposited sites are two important processes of the fly ash ecosystem. In order to identify the biological potential of a plant species to aid restoration of fly ash deposited sites, it is needed to assess leaf litter decomposition as well as nutrient release pattern. In the present investigation, we studied the leaf litter decomposition of the plant species (Leucaena leucocephala, Pithecellobium dolce and Prosopis juliflora) and mix plantation in the fly ash ecosystem. The litter bag experiment was conducted in the area of plantation on the fly ash deposited site during a period of 365 days. Percentage of C and N was higher in L. leucocephala > P. dolce >Mix Plantation > P. juliflora while C/N ratio was higher in P. juliflora >Mix Plantation > L. leucocephala > P. dolce. L. leucocephala and P. dolce showed relatively fast decomposition rates (k = 1.27, 1.17), respectively while mix plantation (k = 0.82) and P. juliflora (k = 0.73) exhibited relatively slower decomposition rates. Thus, we noted that the decomposition rate of L. leucocephala was greater than the other selected species. This shows that the species having faster decomposition rate and nutrient release could be a factual choice for rehabilitation of fly ash deposited sites. Keywords Coal ash deposited site · Litterfall · Rehabilitation · Ecosystem Fly ash (FA) is a residue of coal-based thermal power stations, and has been considered as a hazardous waste across the nations because of the presence of heavy metals, metalloids, radioactive elements and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (Pandey et al. 2011; Verma et al. 2015; Pandey 2020a). Besides, the FA contains macro- and micro-nutrients that are basic requirements in the establishment and growth of plants (Pandey and Singh 2010). The huge quantities of FA generation result from high demand of coal based electricity in society. Most of the coal-fired power stations in the world are facing the problem of disposing FA and it could Vimal Chandra Pandey and Apurva Rai have contributed equally as first author. * Vimal Chandra Pandey [email protected] 1
Department of Environmental Science, Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India
2
Department of Botany, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India
3
CSIR-National Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, Nagpur, Maharashtra, India
not find yet a safe disposal (Pandey et al. 2009). Some countries like India, China, USA, Germany, UK, Australia and Canada have the disposal problem of producing massive FA. The coal-fired power stations have no substitute except to dump it in the neighbouring available lands. C
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