Soil Organic Carbon Pool Under Different Land Uses in Haridwar District of Uttarakhand

Soil organic carbon was estimated in four land uses viz. forests, plantations, agroforestry and horticulture in Haridwar district. Over all 425 soil samples were collected from different land uses at various locations. Soil organic carbon, bulk density and coarse fragments were estimated in collected samples and SOC pool was calculated by using the equation as suggested by IPCC Good Practice Guidance for LULUCF. Maximum SOC pool (73.63 t/ha) was estimated under sal forest followed by miscellaneous forest (56.48 t/ha). Under horticulture land use, SOC pool was higher (58.66 t/ha) in the soils under litchi orchard as compared to Mango orchard (40.62 t/ha) and Guava (29.46 t/ha) orchard. Under block plantation, maximum SOC pool was estimated in the soils under teak (52.50 t/ha) followed by eucalyptus (39.06 t/ha), poplar (30.45 t/ha) and the least was under shisham (28.12 t/ha). Under agroforestry model, poplar - sugarcane showed higher SOC pool (25.78 t/ha) as compared to poplar - wheat (22.93 t/ha). On an average, Haridwar's forests have 65.05 t/ha SOC pool while horticultural land use have 42.91 t/ha, plantation have 37.53 t/ha and agro-forestry have 24.35 t/ha. Soils under forests stand show higher carbon pool than other land uses. Average SOC pool under forests was 65.05 t/ha, therefore, Haridwar district has 4.09 million ton of SOC pool under forests.