Soil organic carbon pools and carbon management index under different land use systems in North western Himalayas
Yasir Hanif Mir,
Mumtaz Ahmad Ganie,
Tajamul Islam Shah,
Aziz Mujtaba Aezum,
Shabir Ahmed Bangroo,
Shakeel Ahmad Mir,
Shahnawaz Rasool Dar,
Syed Sheeraz Mahdi,
Zahoor Ahmad Baba,
Aanisa Manzoor Shah,
Uzma Majeed,
Tatiana Minkina,
Vishnu D. Rajput,
Aijaz Ahmad Dar
Affiliations
Yasir Hanif Mir
Division of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry, Faculty of Agriculture, SKUAST-Kashmir, Wadura, Jammu and Kashmir, India
Mumtaz Ahmad Ganie
KVK Shopian, SKUAST-Kashmir, Shopian, Jammu and Kashmir, India
Tajamul Islam Shah
Division of Soil Science, SKUAST-Kashmir, Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, India
Aziz Mujtaba Aezum
Division of Soil Science, SKUAST-Kashmir, Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, India
Shabir Ahmed Bangroo
Division of Soil Science, SKUAST-Kashmir, Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, India
Shakeel Ahmad Mir
Division of Soil Science, SKUAST-Kashmir, Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, India
Shahnawaz Rasool Dar
Research Center for Residue & Quality Analysis, Sheri Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences & Technologies, Kashmir, Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, India
Syed Sheeraz Mahdi
Division of Agronomy, Faculty of Agriculture, SKUAST-Kashmir, Wadura, Jammu and Kashmir, India
Zahoor Ahmad Baba
Division of Basic Sciences and Humanities, Faculty of Agriculture, SKUAST-Kashmir, Sopore, Jammu and Kashmir, India
Aanisa Manzoor Shah
Division of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry, Faculty of Agriculture, SKUAST-Kashmir, Wadura, Jammu and Kashmir, India
Uzma Majeed
Division of Agricultural Statistics, Faculty of Horticulture, SKUAST Kashmir, Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, India
Tatiana Minkina
Academy of Biology and Biotechnology, Southern Federal University, Oblast, Russia
Vishnu D. Rajput
Academy of Biology and Biotechnology, Southern Federal University, Oblast, Russia
Aijaz Ahmad Dar
Directorate of Planning, SKUAST-Kashmir, Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, India
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.
