Microbial activity and nutrient status in oak and pine oriented forest soil of mid altitude Central Himalaya.

Forest tree growth in mid altitude Central Himalayan ecosystem is most commonly limited by shortage of mineral nutrients. Consequently, in these circumstances growth depends on nutrient cycling in the soil in rhizosphere region specifically due to presence of microbes that transfer soil organic matter and release mineral nutrients into forms available to plants. Rapid replacement of oak oriented forest with pine oriented forest in Garhwal for its commercial product or non-timber forest product cause a huge losses of various ecological attributes that are associated with oak forest soil. In Mid Altitude Central Himalaya it has been found that in many aspects oak oriented forest is better than pine oriented forest, whether it is on the basis of nutrient status or microbial activity. 2 Continuous deforestation of oak oriented forest causes reduction in microbial activity in the soil. Prediction of microbial activity can be done by estimation of Dehydrogenase activity in the soil. The mean Dehydrogenase activity (DHA) obtained in oak forest soil were 106.28 nmol /g dry weight soil / 2 hr and for pine forest it was 66.37 nmol /g dry weight soil / 2 hr respectively, indicate a higher microbial activity in oak oriented forest than pine oriented forest.