Soil organic carbon stocks in different agroforestry systems of south Gujarat

Abstract

Soil organic carbon (SOC) content has influences on the sustainability and stability of any agroforestry system. In this present study, SOC and SOC stocks distribution in soil (0-30 cm) in five predominant agroforestry systems (agri-horticultural, agri-horti-silvicultural, agri-silvicultural, horti-pastoral and homegarden) practiced in Navsari, Gujarat were examined. The result revealed that homegarden system had low bulk density (1.36 Mg m-3) and highest soil organic carbon content (0.78 %) as compared to other agroforestry systems. Overall, the soil organic carbon stocks (0-30 cm) in different agroforestry systems ranged from 23.75 to 29.58 Mg ha-1. The top soil layer (0-15 cm) of homegarden system had the highest (15.82 Mg ha-1) soil organic carbon stocks (SOCS), followed by agri-horti-silvicultural system (14.56 Mg ha-1) and the agri-silvicultural system recorded the lowest SOCS of 12.32 Mg ha-1. Overall, there was a decline of 8.57 % SOCS spatially from the top to the sub-soil layer.