Compositions and nutrients in the forest litter of Picea schrenkiana

【Objective】Studies of forest litter and its dynamic change of Picea schrenkiana.【Method】Based on samples from P. schrenkiana forest national nature reserve in western Tianshan Mountains, forest litter and nine nutrients were tested from August 2008 to July 2009, and forest litter, nutrient elements were determined and the annual dynamic change was analyzed.【Result and conclusion】Annual amount of litter was 2 622.0 kg/hm². There were significant differences of forest litter composition, with the higest being 1 766.6 kg/hm² for leaf litter. For annual return of litter nutrients, macro-element Ca (60.83 kg/hm²) was the highest, while Mg (3.66 kg/hm²) was the lowest. For the trace elements Fe (1.98 kg/hm²) was the highest, while Cu (0.22 kg/hm²) was the lowest. The return amount of forest litter nutrients is important supplement source of soil fertility, which has an extremely important role in forest soil nutrient cycling and trees growth.