Sequestered Organic Carbon Stock in the Soils under Different Land Uses in Uttarakhand State of India

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change identified creation and strengthening of carbon sinks in the soil as a clear option for increasing the removal of CO2 from the atmosphere and has recognized soil organic carbon pool as one of the five major carbon pools for the land use, land use change and Forestry sector. Land is being used for different purposes like forestry, agriculture, agroforestry, pastures, horticulture, plantations, habitat etc. Land use and soil management practices can significantly influence soil organic carbon dynamics and carbon flux of the soil. A study was conducted to estimate the soil organic carbon (SOC) stock in the soils under forest, horticulture, agroforestry and grassland land uses in Uttarakhand state of India. Data revealed that maximum SOC pool was in the soils under grasslands (116.98 t ha-1) followed by forest (74.56 t ha-1), horticulture (51.71 t ha-1) and agroforestry (25.92 t ha-1). Maximum mitigation potential was observed under grassland (4.51) followed by forests (2.87). This indicates that soil under these land uses can hold organic carbon more than four times and nearly three times higher as compared to soil under agroforestry land uses. Results of one-way ANOVA indicates that the concentration of SOC stock between the different land uses was significantly different at 0.05 level (variance ratio, F = 190.789; p < 0.05). The maximum share of SOC stock in Uttarakhand was contributed by grassland (37.58%) followed by forests (23.91%), horticulture (16.58%) and the lowest share was of agroforestry (8.31%).