Carbon Sequestration in the Soils under Horticulture Land Use in Haryana State

Abstract

A study was undertaken in Haryana to estimate Soil organic carbon stock under different orchards available there under horticulture land uses which covered 47,036 ha area in Haryana. Maximum organic carbon stock was observed under Mango (36.24 t ha-1) followed by Nebu (35.85 t ha-1), Ber (30.37 t ha-1), Guava (29.45 t ha-1), Kinnu (25.11 t ha-1), Aonla (24.67 t ha-1), Malta (24.20 t ha-1) and the least was under the combination of Aonla + Anar (14.97 t ha-1). When SOC stock under different horticulture species was tested by one - way ANOVA, it was found that SOC stock under different species was significantly different (Variance ratio, F = 4.086; p = < 0.05). SOC stock under Mango was significantly different from the SOC stock under all other species except Nebu, Malta and Grapes. Mitigation potential indicates that soils under Mango and Nebu can sequester nearly two and half times more SOC as compared to that in Aonla + Anar orchard, while the soils under Ber and Guava and Kinnu can sequester nearly double the amount of SOC stock in comparison to Aonla+ Anar orchard. Over all, in Haryana the soils under horticulture land use have 1.37 million tones of SOC stock which is equivalent to 5.05 million tons of CO2.