Author(s):

NK Panda, N Bhol and A Nayak

Abstract: This paper presents a study carried out in Balasore district of Odisha during June 2012 – May 2013 to determine the distribution of plants and livestock in 11 different sizes (0.1 to 1.1 acre) of home gardens. The home gardens in the study area were found to be composed of a mixture of perennials, annuals, seasonal plants, medicinal plants live fencing plants. There are four different canopy layers i.e. Top storey (> 10m), Middle Story (5-10m), Lower storey (2-5m) and Ground Cover (<2m). The number of perennial species found in the home gardens ranged from 8-18, annuals ranged from 2-7 and seasonal plants ranged from 4-9. Tree density decreased from 60 plants/acre to 38 plants/acre with increase in homegarden size (0.1 to 1.1 acre). Similarly, the total number of livestock animals decreased from 18 (0.1 acre) to 4 (1.1 acre) with increase in homegarden size. Regular spatial arrangement of plants was found in home gardens of size 0.5 or more. The organic carbon content of soil has registered a similar trend i.e. Organic Carbon content (%) decreased from 0.68% to 0.48% with increase in size of homegarden. Overall, homegarden of 0.5-0.8 acre size were found to be the better ones with regard to spatio-temporal arrangement and soil health.

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