Abstract
Soil organic carbon plays an important role in the stability and fertility of soil and is influenced by different management practice. We quantified active and passive carbon pools from total soil organic carbon (TOC) in seven different land use systems of northeast India. TOC was highest (2.75%) in natural forest and lowest in grassland (1.31%) and it decreased with increasing depth in different pools of lability. Very Labile Carbon (VLC) fraction ranged from 36.11 to 42.74% of TOC across different land use system. Active carbon (AC) pool was highest in Wet Rice Cultivation (61.64%) and lowest (58.71%) in natural forest. Higher AC pools (VLC and less labile) in most land use systems barring natural forests suggest that the land use systems in the region are vulnerable to land use change and must adopt suitable management practice to harness carbon sequestration.
Highlights
Soil organic carbon (SOC) is one of the most widely use soil quality indicator
The state witnessed different predominant land use/land cover types reducing forest cover of 1054 km2 from 2009 to 2017 where shifting cultivation and plantation crops have widely replaced many of the native forests through various sponsored schemes at the cost of forest destruction and degradation To estimate the distribution of SOC stock among different land uses, we identified seven landuse types in Mizoram, viz
Average total organic carbon (TOC) content (%) in the different land use types decreased in the following order: Forest > Current Jhum > Agroforestry > Wet Rice Cultivation > Jhum Fallow > Plantation > Grassland
Summary
Soil organic carbon (SOC) is one of the most widely use soil quality indicator. In terrestrial ecosystems, it determines the fertility and productivity by improving the physical, chemical and biological properties, and useful in predicting climate change and its effects [1]. Global SOC pool in the top 1 m soil is approximately 1200 to 1600 Pg (1 Pg = 1015 g) and 695 to 930 Pg of inorganic carbon. The amount of carbon (C) stored in soil is two times of the global biotic C pool and three times of the global atmospheric C pool [2]. The concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) may be greatly impacted with a small change in SOC pool, affecting the global carbon cycle [3]. It is important to preserve, maintain and store SOC while addressing problems of climate change and food insecurity
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