Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Soil organic carbon stocks and fractions in different orchards of eastern plateau and hill region of India

  • Published:
Agroforestry Systems Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Soil organic carbon (SOC) plays an important role in soil fertility and productivity. It occurs in soil in labile and non-labile forms that help in maintaining the soil health. An investigation was undertaken to evaluate the dynamics of total soil organic carbon (C tot), oxidisable organic carbon (C oc), very labile carbon (C frac 1), labile carbon (C frac 2), less labile carbon (C frac 3), non-labile carbon (C frac 4), microbial biomass carbon (C mic) and SOC sequestration in a 6-year-old fruit orchards. The mango, guava and litchi orchards caused an enrichment of C tot by 17.2, 12.6 and 11 %, respectively, over the control. The mango orchard registered highest significant increase of 20.7, 13.5 and 17.4 % in C frac 1, C frac 2 and C frac 4, respectively, over control. There is greater accumulation of all the C fractions in the surface soil (0–0.30 m). The maximum total active carbon pool was 36.2 Mg C ha−1 in mango orchard and resulted in 1.2 times higher than control. The passive pool of carbon constituted about 42.4 % of C tot and registered maximum in the mango orchard. The maximum C mic was 370 mg C kg−1 in guava orchard and constituted 4.2 % of C tot. The carbon management index registered 1.2 (mango orchard)- and 1.13 (guava and litchi orchard)-fold increase over control. The mango orchard registered highest carbon build rate of 1.53 Mg C ha−1 year−1 and resulted in 17.3 % carbon build-up over control. Among the carbon fractions, C frac 1 was highly correlated (r = 0.567**) with C mic.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Bhattacharyya T, Pal DK, Chandran P, Ray SK, Mandal C, Telpande B (2008) Soil carbon storage capacity as a tool to prioritise areas for carbon sequestration. Curr Sci 95:482–494

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Blair GJ, Lefroy RDB, Lisle L (1995) Soil carbon fractions based on their degree of oxidation and development of a carbon management index for agricultural systems. Aust J Agric Res 46:1459–1466

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Calegari A, Hargrove WL, Rheinheimer DDS, Ralish R, Tessier D, Tourdonnet S, Guimaraes MF (2008) Impact of long-term no tillage and cropping system management on soil organic carbon in an oxisol: a model for sustainability. Agron J 100:1013–1019

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Carter MR (2002) Soil quality for sustainable land management: organic matter and aggregation interactions that maintain soil functions. Agron J 94:38–47

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chan KY, Bowman A, Oates A (2001) Oxidizible organic carbon fractions and soil quality changes in oxicpaleustalf under different pasture leys. Soil Sci 166:61–67

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Chaudhury J, Mandal UK, Sharma KL, Ghosh H, Mandal B (2005) Assessing soil quality under long-term rice-based cropping system. Commun Soil Sci Plant Anal 36:1–21

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Conant RT, Paustian K (2002) Potential soil carbon sequestration in overgrazed grassland ecosystems. Glob Biogeochem Cycles 16(4):1143

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gong W, Yan XY, Wang JY, Hu TX, Gong YB (2009) Long-term manuring and fertilization effects on soil organic carbon pools under a wheat-maize cropping system in North China Plain. Plant Soil 314:67–76

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Grego S, Marinari S, Moscatelli MC, Badalucco L (1998) Effect of ammonium nitrate and stabilized farmyard manure on microbial biomass and metabolic quotient of soil under Zea mays. Soil Biol Biochem 128:132–137

    Google Scholar 

  • Gundersen P, Berg B, Currie WS (2006) Carbon–nitrogen interactions in forest ecosystems—final report. Forest and Landscape Working Papers No. 17–2006, Danish Centre for Forest, Landscape and Planning, KVL, pp 62

  • Hutchinson JJ, Campbell CA, Desjardins RL (2007) Some perspectives on carbon sequestration in agriculture. Agric For Meteorol 142:288–302

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ingram JSI, Fernandes ECM (2001) Managing carbon sequestration in soils: concept and terminology. Agric Econ Environ 87:111–117

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Janzen HH (1987) Effect of fertilizer on soil productivity in long-term spring wheat rotations. Can J Soil Sci 67:165–174

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Janzen HH (2004) Carbon cycling in earth systems: a soil science perspective. Agric Ecosyst Environ 104:399–417

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Jenkinson DS, Powlson DS (1976) The effects of biocidal treatments on metabolism in soil V. A method for measuring soil biomass. Soil Biol Biochem 8:209–213

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kalambukattu JG, Singh R, Patra AK, Arunkumar K (2013) Soil carbon pools and carbon management index under different land use systems in the central Himalayan regions. Acta Agric Scand B 63:200–205

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kaur T, Brar BS, Dhillon NS (2008) Soil organic matter dynamics as affected by long-term use of organic and inorganic fertilizers under maize-wheat cropping system. Nutr Cycl Agroecosyst 81:59–69

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lakaria BL, Patne MK, Jha P, Biswas AK (2012) Soil organic carbon pools and indices under different land use systems in vertisols of central india. J Indian Soc Soil Sci 60:125–131

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lal R (2004) Soil carbon sequestration impacts on global climate change and food security. Science 304:1623–1627

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lefroy RDB, Blair GJ, Strong WM (1994) Changes in soil organic matter with cropping as measured by organic carbon fractions and 13C natural isotope abundance. Plant Soil 155(156):399–402

    Google Scholar 

  • Ma L, Yang LZ, Xia LZ, Shen MX, Yin SX, Li YD (2011) Long-term effects of inorganic and organic amendments on organic carbon in a paddy soil of the Taihu Lake Region, China. Pedosphere 21:186–196

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Majumder B, Mandal B, Bandyopadhyay PK, Chaudhury J (2007) Soil organic carbon pools and productivity relationships for a 34 year old rice-wheat-jute agroecosystem under different fertilizer treatments. Plant Soil 297:53–67

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Mandal B (2005) Assessment and improvement of soil quality and resilience for rainfed production system. Completion Report. National Agricultural Technology Project, Indian Council of Agricultural Research, New Delhi, p 30

    Google Scholar 

  • Melero S, Lopez-Garrido R, Murillo JM, Moreno F (2009) Conservation tillage: short- and long-term effects on soil carbon fractions and enzymatic activities under Mediterranean conditions. Soil Tillage Res 104:292–298

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nelson DW, Sommers LE (1982) Total carbon, organic carbon, and organic matter. In: Page AL (ed) Methods of soil analysis, 2nd edn. ASA, Madison, pp 539–579

    Google Scholar 

  • Parton WJ, Rasmussen PE (1994) Long-term effects of crop management in wheat-fallow: II. CENTURY model simulations. Soil Sci Soc Am J 58:530–536

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Powlson DS (1994) The soil microbial biomass before, beyond and back. In: Ritz K, Dighton J, Giller KE (eds) Beyond the biomass. Wiley, Chichester, pp 3–20

    Google Scholar 

  • Powlson DS, Smith P, Cloeman K, Smith JU, Glendining MJ, Korshens M, Franco U (1998) A European net work of long-term sites for studies on soil organic matter. Soil Till Res 47:263–274

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Purakayastha TJ, Rudrappa L, Singh D, Swarup A, Bhadraray S (2008) Long-term impact of fertilizers on soil organic carbon pools and sequestration rates in maize-wheat- cowpea cropping system. Geoderma 144:370–378

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ramesh T, Manjaiah KM, Tomar JMS, Ngachan SV (2013) Effect of multipurpose tree species on soil fertility and CO2 efflux under hilly ecosystems of northeast India. Agrofor Syst 87:1377–1388

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rudrappa L, Purakayestha TJ, Singh D, Bhadraray S (2005) Long-term manuring and fertilization effects on soil organic carbon pools in a typic haplustept of semi-arid sub tropical India. Soil Till Res 88:180–192

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Russell AE, Camberdella CA, Ewel JJ, Parkin TB (2004) Species, rotation and life-form diversity effects on soil carbon in experimental tropical ecosystems. Ecol Appl 14:47–60

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sherrod LA, Peterson GA, Westfall DG, Ahuja LR (2005) Soil organic carbon pools after 12 years in no-till dryland agroecosystems. Soil Sci Soc Am J 67:1533–1543

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smith P (2004) Soils as carbon sinks: the global context. Soil Use Manag 20:212–218

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sparling GP, Shepherd TG, Kettles HA (1992) Changes in soil organic C, microbial C and aggregate stability under continuous maize and cereal cropping, and after restoration to pasture in soils from the Manawatu region. Soil Till Res 24:225–241

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sreekanth NP, Shanthi Prabha V, Padmakumar B, Thomas AP (2013) Soil carbon alterations of selected forest types as an environmental feedback to climate change. Int J Environ Sci 3(5):1516–1530

    Google Scholar 

  • Tirol-Padre A, Ladha JK (2004) Assessing the reliability of permanganate-oxidizable carbon as index of soil labile carbon. Soil Sci Soc Am J 98:969–978

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vance ED, Brookes PC, Jenkinson DS (1987) An extraction method for measuring soil microbial biomass carbon. Soil Biol Biochem 19:703–707

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Vesterdal L, Schmidt IK, Callesen I, Nilsson LO, Gundersen P (2008) Carbon and nitrogen in forest floor and mineral soil under six common European tree species. For Ecol Manag 255:35–48

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Walkley A, Black IA (1934) An examination of method for determining organic carbon in soils: effect of variations in digestion conditions and of inorganic soil constituents. Soil Sci 63:251–263

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Whitbread AM, Lefroy RDB, Blair GJ (1998) A survey of the impact of cropping on soil physical and chemical properties in north-western New South Wales. Aust J Soil Res 36:669–681

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. ICAR Research Complex for Eastern Region, Research Centre, Plandu, Ranchi, Jharkhand, 834010, India

    Sushanta Kumar Naik & Sudarshan Maurya

  2. ICAR Research Complex for Eastern Region, ICAR Parisar, B. V. College, Patna, 800014, India

    B. P. Bhatt

Authors
  1. Sushanta Kumar Naik
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Sudarshan Maurya
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. B. P. Bhatt
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Sushanta Kumar Naik.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Naik, S.K., Maurya, S. & Bhatt, B.P. Soil organic carbon stocks and fractions in different orchards of eastern plateau and hill region of India. Agroforest Syst 91, 541–552 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10457-016-9957-4

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10457-016-9957-4

Keywords

Search

Navigation