Research Article
Assessment of soil carbon fractions, carbon stock and microbial population under different tree-based land use systems
A. Ramachandran and D. Udhaya Nandhini*
Mother Teresa College of Agriculture, Iluppur, Pudukkottai-102
Keywords: carbon fractions, Carbon pools, land use system
DOI:10.37273/chesci.cs205502231 • PDF
Abstract
Carbon sequestration is a critical aspect of sustainable agriculture and plays a vital role in mitigating global climate change. Land use conversion can significantly influence Soil Organic Carbon (SOC) levels due to its impact on soil dynamics. This study was conducted in the Iluppur region of Pudukkottai District to investigate carbon sequestration and its distribution among different soil organic carbon pools across various land use systems. Six distinct land use systems were selected as treatment groups, including sapota, mango, guava, citrus, pomegranate, and barren land. Soil samples were collected from each system, with each treatment replicated three times, and subsequently analyzed for carbon stocks and different carbon fractions and pools. Among the various land use systems, the sapota-based system exhibited the highest content of very labile carbon (VLC) at 3.88 g kg −1 soil, followed closely by the citrus-based system. The relative distribution of organic carbon fractions in the top 15 cm of soil followed this order: very labile carbon (VLC) accounting for 30.1%, non-labile carbon (NLC) for 45.1%, labile carbon (LC) for 13.4%, and less labile carbon (LLC) for 11.4%. Introducing leaf litter into the tree-based systems led to a noteworthy increase of 19.8% in the active carbon (AC) pool compared to barren land.
Moreover, the passive carbon (PC) pool was most pronounced in the soil under the pomegranate-based system, particularly at the 0–15 cm soil depth. In conclusion, these findings suggest that alternate land use systems have the capacity to sequester more carbon, which is particularly valuable in the context of changing climatic conditions.
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