Total organic and inorganic carbon in soils under different land use/land cover systems in the foothill Himalayas

Abstract

Large-scale land degradation occurs in the foothill Himalayas mainly because of soil erosion, accelerated by tillage and poor management practices in agricultural lands and encroachment of land under forest cover. Land use exerts both direct (through C additions) and indirect (through its impact on soil erosion) influence on soil carbon. Partitioning of Total Carbon (TC) in organic and inorganic forms in degraded soils was studied, and compared these with soils under agriculture, horticulture and forest systems. Highest Total Organic Carbon (TOC) was recorded in forest soils followed by horticultural systems, whereas the least was observed in degraded and agricultural systems while Inorganic Carbon (IC) decreased in the sequence of: degraded lands > forest > agriculture ≥ horticulture. TOC stocks in the upper half-a-meter layer were 163.9 Mg ha−1 in forest soils followed by horticulture (144.7 Mg ha−1) while in case of TC, the degraded lands closely followed forest soils. The contribution of IC to TC was about 39% in degraded lands, which was about twice that of its contribution in forest soils. TOC decreased with soil depth whereas IC increased with depth. The increase in IC with depth was minor for agricultural and horticultural soils, whereas it was about 84% for degraded and about 61% for forest soils. Our study highlights the impact of erosion on dynamics of soil carbon and its partitioning and suggests the need to promote better carbon sequestering land use systems towards conservation of top carbon rich soil and promoting sustainability in hill ecosystems particularly in Himalayas.