Shelter is defined as live trees, bushes and shrubs which minimize the disturbance and reduce the level of stress in their leeward sides. Four degrees of shelter were recognized in Sunasaka and their effects on the development of edaphic and plant factors were investigated. It was found that the value of organic matter increased with the increase in the degree of shelter provided for the ground. These values in A
0 layers were 48.3, 31.4, 29.0 and 6.6 and 0.4 for highly sheltered, sheltered, partly sheltered and not sheltered zones, respectively. Except for the bulk density, all other edaphic factors showed a positive correlation with increase in the value of organic matter. The thickness of A horizon also showed an increase with the degree of shelter and was completely absent in not sheltered plots. Due to the protective function of forest the deposition of clay particles had the higher values in sheltered plots. Independent of tree age, tree height increased with increase in degree of shelter, while, tree stem deviation from the straight position decreased with increase in degree of shelter. A significant development of the edaphic factors was found to have taken place only in surface layers of sheltered plots (5cm depth) whereas, below those layers, both in sheltered and not sheltered zones, the values of edaphic factors were more or less the same.
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