Abstract
Researcher has estimated soil organic carbon simply as one of the soil attributes depending upon their objectives of the study. To calculated SOC pool from this data, one has to use some assumptions which lead to uncertainties. Therefore, this study was conducted to estimate Soil organic carbon pool in forests as well as in other land uses in Nainital district as per the methodology of IPCC. Maximum SOC pool was estimated in the soils under Deodar forest (147.12 t ha-1) followed by Quercus (127.07 t ha-1), Chir (70.98 t ha-1), Miscellaneous (50.90 t ha-1) and the least was under Sal (42.25 t ha-1). In plantation land use, maximum SOC pool was estimated in the soils under Cypress (67.77 t ha-1), followed by Teak (46.01 t ha-1), Eucalyptus (45.91 t ha-1) and the least was under Chir plantation (44.86 t ha-1). Under Horticulture land use in Nainital district, maximum SOC pool was observed under Apple orchards (82.50 t ha-1), followed by Citrus (54.97 t ha-1), Mango (53.65 t ha-1), Litchi (39.63 t ha-1), and the least was under Guava (26.98 t ha-1). Under grass land of Nainital district, SOC pool was estimated 41.16 t ha-1. SOC pool under Deodar and Quercus were significantly different from the SOC pool under Miscellaneous, Sal, and Chir. SOC pool under Chir was statistically significant different from the SOC pool of Sal. SOC pools between the different orchards were significantly different at 0.05 level. SOC pool in the soils under forests was statistically significantly different with the SOC pool under horticulture, plantations and grasslands.
Keywords
Quantification, Decomposable, Vegetation cover, Coarse fragment, Mitigation Potential