DIMENSION AND COMPOSITION OF PLANT LIFE IN TEHSIL TAKHT-E-NASRATI, DISTRICT KARAK, KHYBER PAKHTUNKHAWA, PAKISTAN MUSHARAF KHAN DEPARTMENT OF BOTANY UNIVERSITY OF PESHAWAR 2012 i Dedication I dedicated this work to my whole family members and teachers with great love and gratitude ii In the Name of Allah The Most Compassionate The Most Merciful iii UNIVERSITY OF PESHAWAR PESHAWAR DIMENSION AND COMPOSITION OF PLANT LIFE IN TEHSIL TAKHT-E-NASRATI, DISTRICT KARAK, KHYBER PAKHTUN KHAWA, PAKISTAN A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Botany By Musharaf Khan Graduate Study Committee: 1. Prof. Dr. Farrukh Hussain, (Supervisor) 2. Prof. Dr. Syed Zahir Shah, (Member) 3. Prof. Dr. Muhammed Seed, (Member) 4. Prof. Dr. Siraj-ud-Din, (Member) 5. Madam Mussarat Jabeen, (Member) iv CERTIFICATE OF APPROVAL This Dissertation, entitled “DIMENSION AND COMPOSITION OF PLANT LIFE IN TEHSIL TAKHT-E-NASRATI, DISTRICT KARAK, KHYBER PAKHTUN KHAWA, PAKISTAN.” submitted by Musharaf Khan is hereby approved and recommended as partial fulfillment for the award of Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Botany. ______________________________ (External Examiner) Prof. Dr. Mufakhirah Jan Durrani Chairperson, Department of Biology Allama Iqbal Open University Islamabad _____________________________ (Supervisor) Prof. Dr. Farrukh Hussain Research Supervisor, Department of Botany, University of Peshawar. Dated: ………………………2013 v PUBLICATION OPTION I hereby reserve the rights of publication, including right to reproduce this thesis in any form for a period of 5 years form the date of submission Musharaf Khan vi Acknowledgements This thesis would never been accomplished without the courage, strength and hope given by Almighty Allah! The most merciful, the most beneficent, who makes impossible to possible. I invoke peace for the Holy Prophet Mohammad (May peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) who is for ever atorch of guidance and knowledge for humanity as a whole. It is worthwhile to express my extreme passionate and articulate appreciation to my respectable Research Supervisor Prof. Dr. Farrukh Hussain, Dean Faculty of life and Enviromental science and Director Center of Plant Biodiversity, University of Peshawar, for his encouragement, dedicated supervision and valuable suggestions during the course of thesis. I am also thankful to the Prof. Dr. Muhammad Ibrar, Chairmen, Department of Botany for facilitating me through out my research work. My special thanks to Mr. Farid Ullah Khan, Principal Scientific officer, PCSIR, Peshawar, Mr. Obaid ur Rehman, Adman Officer PCST, PCSIR Labs, Peshawar; All Staff members of Agricultural Research Farm Ahmadwala, Karak, Muhammad Qasim, DM Government High School Surdog, Karak; Mr. Ihsanulluh, Khyber Degree College Takht-e-Nasrati, Karak; Mr. Syed Ghias Ali, Center of Plant Biodiversity, Peshawar for their kind help and sincere guidance whenever needed throughout the study. I want to express my gratitude to all friends specially Mr. Zahid Mehmood and class fellows specially Dr. Muhib Shah and Mr. Ishfaq Hameed for their help whenever needed throughout the study. I extend my thanks to all the teaching and non-teaching staff of Department of Botany, who helped me in providing necessary equipments and did valuable cooperation. I am indebted to my loving brothers, sisters and wife for their constant support, love, kindness, encouragement and parents whose prays made me able to compile and complete the work. During my work I have encountered many obstacles and provided with support and assistance from different institutions and personals, special thank to the people of area for providing support. Musharaf Khan vii VITAE April 14, 1978 –- Born. Village and Post Office Bogara, District Karak. 2000 – B. Sc. University of Peshawar, Peshawar. 2004 – MSc. Gomal University D. I. Khan. 2005 – M.Ed. Sarhad university, Peshawar. 2007 – M. Phill. Kohat university of Science & technology, Kohat. 2008 – PGD (NRM). University of Peshawar, Peshawar. 25 August 2007 till now – lecturer in Biology Federal Government College Mardan. Major Field: Ecology Botany Courses studied: Teacher 1. Allelopathic Interaction : Prof. Dr. Farrukh Hussain 2. Soil algae : Prof. Dr. Farrukh Hussain 3. Vegetation Ecology : Prof. Dr. Farrukh Hussain 4. Edaphology : Prof. Dr. Muhammad Ibrar 5. Pharmacognosy : Prof. Dr. Muhammad Ibrar 6. Limnology : Prof. Dr. F. M. Sarim viii ABSTRACT DIMENSION AND COMPOSITION OF PLANT LIFE IN TEHSIL TAKHT-E- NASRATI, DISTRICT KARAK, KHYBER PAKHTUN KHAWA, PAKISTAN By Musharaf Khan The present study was designed to assess plant life structure and resources of Tehsil Takht-e-Nasrati, District Karak, Khyber Pakhtun Khawa, Pakistan with respect to local people and their livestock exercise since in the investigated area no such work was done before. The study revealed that investigated area had 161 plant species belonging to 136 genera and 57 families. There are 7 families of monocotyledons having 21 genera and 25 species. Dicotyledons had 50 families, 115 genera and 136 species. Overall Poaceae was the dominant family with 17 species followed by Asteraceae had 13 species. Phenological data showed that 94 plants were found in flowering condition in spring which included 19 (11.8%) tree, 11 (6.83%) shrubs, 61 (37.9%) herbs and 3 (1.86%) parasites. In summer, 28 plants including 1 (0.62%) tree, 3 (1.86%) shrubs, 21 (13%) herbs and 3 (1.86%) grasses. In winter, 27 plants including 2 (1.24%) trees, 5 (3.11%) shrubs, 17 (10.6%) herbs and 3 (1.86%) grasses while 12 plants had through out the year included 4 (2.48%) shrubs, 5 (3.11%) herbs and 3 (1.86%) grasses. The biological spectrum revealed that therophytes was dominated by 77 plants species (47.83%) followed by hemicryptophytes (30 spp., 18.63%), megaphanerophytes (17 spp., 10.6%), nanophanerophytes (16 spp., 9.94%), chamaephytes (11 spp., 6.83%), microphanerophytes (4 spp, 2.48 %), parasite (3 spp, 1.86%) and geophytes (03 spp., 1.86%). The leaf size spectrum dominated by microphylls (85 spp. 52.8%) followed by nanophylls (32 spp. 19.9%), mesophylls (17 spp. 10.6 %), leptophylls (15 spp. 9.32%) and megaphylls (12 spp. 7.45%). Through ethnobotanical profile it was reported that the locals used 118 (73.3%) species as folk medicinal plants, 114 (70.8 %) fodder species, 47 (26.7 %) fuel species, 16 (9.94 %) timber woods, 23 (14.3 %) vegetable species, 50 (31.06 %) veterinary use plants, 90 (55.9 %) honey bee species. The 33 (20.5 %) fruit plants species and 17 (10.6 %) species were used for making agricultural tools, 19 (11.8 %) species were used for fencing field borders and 18 (11.18%) were used for making furniture. ix It was a different ecological study of the investigated area. Quantitative and qualitative description of diverse plant communities at different altitude had provided some basic information about phytodiversity, plant life structure and climatic combination. The investigated area was divided on the basis of altitude i.e. stand 1 (340 – 399 m), stand 2 (400 - 499 m), stand 3 (500 - 599 m) and stand 4 (600-700 m). Community structures in diverse sites were taken into spring, summer and winter. In each season 22 plant communities were established at various sites on the basis of important value from each plant strata i.e. tree, shrub and herb. In spring aspect, 66 plant species, summer (46 spp.) and in winter 72 plant species were recorded in different plant communities. All plant communities showed heterogeneity in all seasons. With increasing altitude heterogeneity occurred in most of the communities. In plain and hilly area, the highest value was originated of class B i.e. 7.35 and 7.09 respectively. The highest value of species diversity (3.097) and equitability value (0.957) was found in spring while the highest value of species richness (5.752) was found in winter. Communities had high percentage of maturity index value in summer. In summer and winter total 12 plant communities showed similarity above 65% while winter show no similarity above 65% between communities. Hierarchical Cluster Analysis marked out distinct 4 groups association in spring i.e. Prosopis-Fagonia-Saccharum association, Zizyphus-Saccharum-Acacia association, Fagonia-Zizyphus-Eragrostis association, Aerua-Acacia-Cymbopogon association, in summer, 5 association i.e. Cenchrus- Saccharum-Prosopis association, Cenchrus-Eragrostis-Calligonum association, Zizyphus-Cenchrus-Eragrostis association, Rhazya-Fagonia-Cymbopogon association and Aerua-Boerhavia-Zizyphus association and in winter, 4 association i.e. Cenchrus-Saccharum-Prosopis association, Cenchrus-Zizyphus-Saccharum association, Cenchrus-Zizyphus-Cymbopogon association and Aerua-Zizyphus-Acacia association by different level, cycling and similarity of communities. The herb biomass was high 730 Kg.hec-1 during spring at stand 1 (340 – 399 m). The grass biomass was high 173 Kg.hec-1 during summer at stand 3 (400-499 m). The total herbs mean biomass was high during spring (536.30 Kg.hec-1) while the grasses had (129.9 Kg.hec-1) during summer. The total average herbaceous biomass was high at stand 1 (262.58 Kg.hec-1) and total mean and average biomass of research area was 223.23 Kg.hec-1. x The overall average total shrub biomass was 741.58 Kg. hec-1. The total shrub biomass in different area was diverse from 13.47 Kg. hec-1 to 2665.12 Kg. hec-1. As a whole the shrub biomass was high in winter while low in summer. The people of area rely on animals for their livelihood. The major plants are grazed in the investigated area. Of the 161 recorded species, 29 species (18.01 %) were non palatable, 32 spp. (19.88 %) highly palatable, 43 spp. (26.71 %) mostly palatable, 34 spp. (21.12 %) less palatable and 23 spp. (14.29 %) were rarely palatable. 10 plant species were studied for phytochemical screening i.e. alkalid, carbohydrate, saponins, anthraquinone, flavonoid, steroids and tannins in three phenological stages. In mineral analysis 3 macro mineral such as sodium, potassium and calcium and 7 micro mineral like zinc, copper, manganese, chromium, nickel, cadmium and lead were analyzed in the 10 selected forage species in three phenological stages.