Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2023 Jun 6:11:e15266.
doi: 10.7717/peerj.15266. eCollection 2023.

Soil organic carbon pools and carbon management index under different land use systems in North western Himalayas

Yasir Hanif Mir  1 , Mumtaz Ahmad Ganie  2 , Tajamul Islam Shah  3 , Aziz Mujtaba Aezum  3 , Shabir Ahmed Bangroo  3 , Shakeel Ahmad Mir  3 , Shahnawaz Rasool Dar  4 , Syed Sheeraz Mahdi  5 , Zahoor Ahmad Baba  6 , Aanisa Manzoor Shah  1 , Uzma Majeed  7 , Tatiana Minkina  8 , Vishnu D Rajput  8 , Aijaz Ahmad Dar  9
Affiliations

Soil organic carbon pools and carbon management index under different land use systems in North western Himalayas

Yasir Hanif Mir et al. PeerJ. .

Abstract

Current study was conducted to evaluate the effect of important land uses and soil depth on soil organic carbon pools viz. total organic carbon, Walkley and black carbon, labile organic carbon, particulate organic carbon, microbial biomass carbon and carbon management index (CMI) in the north Western Himalayas, India. Soil samples from five different land uses viz. forest, pasture, apple, saffron and paddy-oilseed were collected up to a depth of 1 m (0-30, 30-60, 60-90 cm). The results revealed that regardless of soil depth, all the carbon pools differed significantly (p < 0.05) among studied land use systems with maximum values observed under forest soils and lowest under paddy-oilseed soils. Further, upon evaluating the impact of soil depth, a significant (p < 0.05) decline and variation in all the carbon pools was observed with maximum values recorded in surface (0-30 cm) soils and least in sub-surface (60-90 cm) layers. CMI was higher in forest soils and lowest in paddy-oilseed. From regression analysis, a positive significant association (high R-squared values) between CMI and soil organic carbon pools was also observed at all three depths. Therefore, land use changes and soil depth had a significant impact on soil organic carbon pools and eventually on CMI, which is used as deterioration indicator or soil carbon rehabilitation that influences the universal goal of sustainability in the long run.

Keywords: Carbon management index; Soil depth; Soil organic carbon pools; Soil quality; Sustainability.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare there are no competing interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Particle size distribution and nitrogen content under different LUSs and soil depth.
Figure 2
Figure 2. Soil reaction (pH) and bulk density under different LUSs and soil depth.
Figure 3
Figure 3. CMI values of different LUSs at varying depths (Reference land use: Forest).
Figure 4
Figure 4. Correlation between physico-chemical characteristics and SOC pools.
Figure 5
Figure 5. Relationship among SOC pools and CMI at 0–30 cm depth.
Figure 6
Figure 6. Relationship among SOC pools and CMI at 30–60 cm depth.
Figure 7
Figure 7. Relationship among SOC pools and CMI at 60–90 cm depth.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Abad JRS, Khosravi H, Alamdarlou ES. Assessment the effects of land use changes on soil physicochemical properties in Jafarabad of Golestan province, Iran. Bulletin of Environment Pharmacology and Life Sciences. 2014;3(3):296–300.
    1. Addiscott T. Entropy and sustainability. European Journal of Soil Science. 1995;46:161–68. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2389.1995.tb01823.x. - DOI
    1. Babu S, Mohapatra KP, Yadav GS, Lal R, Singh R, Avasthe RK, Das A, Chandra P, Gudade BA, Kumar A. Soil carbon dynamics in diverse organic land use systems in north eastern Himalayan ecosystem of India. Catena. 2020;194:104785. doi: 10.1016/j.catena.2020.104785. - DOI
    1. Baker JM, Ochsner TE, Venterea RT, Griffis TJ. Tillage and soil carbon sequestration: What do we really know. Agriculture, Ecosystem and Environment. 2007;118:1–5. doi: 10.1016/j.agee.2006.05.014. - DOI
    1. Barreto PA, Gama-Rodrigues EF, Gama-Rodrigues AC, Fontes AG, Polidoro JC, Moço MK, Machado RC, Baligar VC. Distribution of oxidizable organic C fractions in soils under cacao agroforestry systems in Southern Bahia, Brazil. Agroforestry Systems. 2011;81(3):213–220. doi: 10.1007/s10457-010-9300-4. - DOI

LinkOut - more resources