Active and passive soil organic carbon pools as affected by different land use types in Mizoram, Northeast India

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 14; no. 7; p. e0219969
• Main Authors: Sahoo, Uttam Kumar, Singh, Soibam Lanabir, Gogoi, Anudip, Kenye, Alice, Sahoo, Snehasudha S
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 30.07.2019; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Activated carbon; Agriculture; Agroforestry; Analysis; Biology and Life Sciences; Biomass; Carbon; Carbon - analysis; Carbon capture and storage; Carbon cycle; Carbon dioxide; Carbon sequestration; Climate change; Cultivation; Earth science; Earth Sciences; Ecology and Environmental Sciences; Ecosystems; Engineering and Technology; Environmental aspects; Forestry; Forests; Grain cultivation; Grassland; Grasslands; India; Lability; Land use; Land use controls; Land use management; Land use planning; Mineralization; Natural resource management; Organic carbon; Organic soils; Pools; Quality; Research and Analysis Methods; Social aspects; Social Sciences; Soil - chemistry; Soil carbon; Soil fertility; Soil quality; Soil stability; Soils; India; China
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0219969

Soil organic carbon plays an important role in the stability and fertility of soil and is influenced by different management practice. We quantified active and passive carbon pools from total soil organic carbon (TOC) in seven different land use systems of northeast India. TOC was highest (2.75%) in natural forest and lowest in grassland (1.31%) and it decreased with increasing depth in different pools of lability. Very Labile Carbon (VLC) fraction ranged from 36.11 to 42.74% of TOC across different land use system. Active carbon (AC) pool was highest in Wet Rice Cultivation (61.64%) and lowest (58.71%) in natural forest. Higher AC pools (VLC and less labile) in most land use systems barring natural forests suggest that the land use systems in the region are vulnerable to land use change and must adopt suitable management practice to harness carbon sequestration.