A Comparative Study of Organic Carbon, Total Nitrogen and Carbon/Nitrogen ratio in Soils of Different Forest Types in Surat Forest Circle, Gujarat, India

Abstract

In the present study, nutrient status especially Organic Carbon (OC), Total Nitrogen (TN) and Carbon and Nitrogen (C/N) ratio have been investigated in the soils taken from location inside forest from 3 different forest types, 3 density classes and 3 topographies as well as from 2 location outside forest areas for each forest types. Soil samples were collected from two depths from each location within 10 days to maintain uniformity in the collected soil samples. Thus, a total of 270 soil samples were collected and analysed. The soil analysis from these areas showed an increasing trends of average OC, TN (except RF) and decreasing trends of C/N ratio (except in MDF) across soil collected from outside forest, Dry Deciduous Forest (DDF), Moist Deciduous Forest (MDF) and Riverine Forest (RF). The value of OC was observed to be 1.31% ± 0.58, 1.34% ± 0.63 SD, 1.38% ± 0.63 SD and 1.51% ± 0.61 respectively. Average concentration of TN was found to be 0.12% ± 0.04, 0.13% ± 0.05 SD, 0.16% ± 0.067 SD and 0.14% ± 0.048 SD in outside forest, DDF, MDF and RF, respectively. Accordingly, the C/N ratio of soil was found to be 11.13, 10.90, 10.95 and 10.63 in outside forest, DDF, MDF and RF, respectively. Furthermore, comparing the result across the two soil layers showed that the value of C/N ratio was higher in second layer of soil in all location. Lastly, it was also concluded the C/N ratio inside forest as well as 1 km outside forest was less than 25 in all the sample location which indicates fertile soil in the study area.