Land use and cropping effects on carbon in black soils of semi-arid tropical India

Chaudhury, S and Bhattacharyya, T and Wani, S P and Pal, D K and Sahrawat, K L and Nimje, A and Chandran, P and Venugopalan, M V and Telpande, B (2016) Land use and cropping effects on carbon in black soils of semi-arid tropical India. Current Science, 110 (09). pp. 1692-1698. ISSN 0011-3891

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Abstract

Soil organic carbon (SOC) and rainfall are generally positively related, whereas a negative relationship between soil inorganic carbon (SIC) and rainfall with some exception is observed. Land use pattern in black soil region (BSR) of the semi-arid tropical (SAT) India, consists of 80% under agriculture, followed by forest, horticulture, wasteland and permanent fallow. For sustainable agriculture on these soils, there is a concern about their low OC status, which warrants fresh initiatives to enhance their OC status by suitable management interventions. In the BSR region, cotton, soybean and cereal-based systems dominate but it is not yet clear as to which cropping system in the SAT black soils is most suitable for higher OC sequestration. Many short-term experiments on cotton or cereal-based systems clearly suggest that cotton or cereal-based cropping systems including leguminous crops perform better in terms of SOC sequestration whereas soybean–legume combination do not add any substantial amount of OC. In sub-humid bioclimatic zones (1053–1209 mm mean annual rainfall), soybean is grown successfully with wheat or fallowing, and SOC concentration is maintained at 0.75% in the 0.30 m soil layer under integrated nutrient management. In view of enhancement and maintenance of OC in many shortterm experiments conducted in various agro-climate zones of SAT, it is realized that OC accumulation in soils of the semi-arid ecosystem with suitable cropping and management practices could be substantial especially in cotton–pigeon pea rotation, and thus the discussed crop rotations in each major bio-climatic zone stand for wide acceptance by the SAT farmers.

Item Type: Article
Divisions: Research Program : Asia
CRP: CGIAR Research Program on Water, Land and Ecosystems (WLE)
Uncontrolled Keywords: Land use and cropping systems, rainfall, soil carbon, Vertisol, associated soils, SOIL organic carbon, black soils, semi arid trops, cropping effects
Subjects: Others > Soil Science
Depositing User: Mr Ramesh K
Date Deposited: 09 May 2016 09:11
Last Modified: 13 Feb 2017 04:15
URI: http://oar.icrisat.org/id/eprint/9494
Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.18520/cs/v110/i9/1692-1698
Projects: UNSPECIFIED
Funders: UNSPECIFIED
Acknowledgement: This article is part of a special edition on Soil and Water Management (Volume 110, Issue - 09, May 10, 2016)
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