Soil Organic Carbon Pools as Affected by Land Use Types in Hilly Ecosystems of Manipur

Abstract

Soil organic carbon (SOC) stock is a function of climatic conditions, vegetation and soil characteristics. SOC pool is comprised of labile and recalcitrant pools with varying residence time. Labile pool of SOC is very important as it influences soil quality, soil productivity and also it has an impact on global warming. Surface soil samples were collected on February-March, 2015 from four predominant land-use systems viz., forest, grassland, cultivated (rice) land (>10 years) and jhum land (2 years) of the humid subtropical Senapati district of Manipur, India to assess the impact of these land-uses on various pools of SOC viz., total organic carbon (TOC), oxidizable organic carbon, very labile, labile, less labile and recalcitrant carbon fractions. The SOC content of forest land recorded highest (23.68 g kg -1 ) and that of cultivated land recorded lowest (13.13 g kg -1 ). The SOC stock was highest in forest land (63.47 mg ha -1 ) which was however statistically at par with grassland (60.33 mg ha -1 ) and that cultivated land was lowest (38.69 mg ha -1 ). Similarly highest accumulation of TOC was observed in forest (38.78 g kg -1 ). About 43.19% and 37.40% of the TOC in forest land and grassland occurred as very labile C suggesting that the accumulated C could easily be lost following the land use change. Contrarily, the majority of TOC of cultivated and jhum land (47.35% and 43.65% of TOC) was stabilized in the recalcitrant pool indicating more stable nature of the accumulated organic matter.Land use changes and management are widely recognized as the most important driving forces of global carbon cycles (Zhang et al., 2012), contribute 6%-39% of the growth in CO 2 emissions (Brovkin et al., 2004) and have profound impacts on SOC which are estimated to be one of the second largest source of human-induced greenhouse gas emissions (1.5 Pg C/a) after fossil fuel combustion (5.3 Pg C/a) (IPCC, 2007) because, soils may provide an immediate sink for atmospheric CO 2 with proper management. When there is land use changed and forests are cleared equilibrium between the SOC pools, land use types, hilly ecosystems, TOC

Difference in soil organic carbon content in various land uses and soil depths of lateritic belt of West Bengal

“…This significantly higher quantity of organic C in the surface soil might be due to highest root densities and increased biological activity (Nair and Chamuah, 1988) [16] . This result was in good agreement with Gebrelibanos and Mohammed (2013) [8] and Meetei et al (2017) [15] . While studying the interaction effect of land uses and soil depth on SOC content, it was observed that the highest SOC content [5.72 g kg -1 ] was recorded at the surface 0-20 cm soil depth of the forest land and the lowest [1.83 g kg -1 ] was obtained at 40-60 cm soil depth of the orchard land which was, however, statistically at par with 40-60 cm depth of fallow land, cultivated rice-potato land, cultivated rice land and pasture land; at par with 20-40 cm depth of fallow land, cultivated rice land, pasture land and orchard land as presented in Table 3.…”

“…This result was in good agreement with Gebrelibanos and Mohammed (2013) [8] . Meetei et al (2017) [15] also documented that the SOC content of forest land recorded highest (23.68 g kg -1 ) and however, that of cultivated land recorded lowest (13.13 g kg -1 ). Considering the main effects of soil depths (irrespective of land uses) it was observed that the mean soil organic carbon content was highest in surface 0-20 cm soil depth [4.05 g kg -1 ] and lowest in 40-60 cm soil depth [2.13 g kg -1 ].…”

Pentingnya Bahan Organik Untuk Meningkatkan Efisiensi Dan Efektivitas Pemupukan Di Perkebunan Kelapa Sawit

“…Menurut Adugna, (2016) KTK merupakan salah satu indikator terpenting kesuburan suatu tanah yang menggambarkan kemampuan tanah untuk meretensi hara sehingga mencegah hara segera hilang tercuci. Oleh karenanya tanah dengan KTK yang tinggi akan memiliki kemampuan atau kapasitas yang tinggi untuk menahan lebih banyak hara dalam bentuk kation sehingga tersedia untuk dapat diserap akar tanaman dalam waktu yang lama (Meetei et al, 2017).…”