Assessment of soil organic Carbon (SOC) in forested landscape of East Siang District
Omem Tadeng1, Karabi Barman2* and Jyotishman Deka3
1Department of Botany, University of Science & Technology, Meghalaya, 9th Mile, Ri-Bhoi – 793101 (India) 2*,3Department of Botany, Assam Don Bosco University, Tepesia – 782402 (India) *For correspondence: email- karabibarman27@gmail.com
ABSTRACT
Apart from being a major source of atmospheric CO2 , soil also serves as an important sink. Several factors including soil moisture, soil pH, and bulk density are there which influence the release of carbon through their organic carbon matter. Therefore, the present study was conducted to assess the soil organic carbon in forested landscape of East Siang District. The study was conducted in two different forested landscape of Pasighat (150 to 300 m asl.), and Mebo (300 to 450 m asl.) area located in Pasighat East Siang district of Arunachal Pradesh. In the current research work three different soil parameters which influence SOC namely soil pH, soil moisture and soil bulk density were studied. Result of the analysis showed that SOC in Pasighat was found to be marginally higher than Mebo. SOC in the current study also showed a decreasing trend with increasing soil depth, in agreement with earlier studies. In case of soil pH two distinct characteristics have been observed, i.e., in both the sites the soil is slightly acidic in nature (pH ≤ 6) and pH shows a decreasing trend with the increase in depth. Soil moisture was almost found to be low and consistent for both the soil depth in both the study sites. However, variability can be observed in case of seasonal pattern. Again, it has been observed that bulk density of the soil increased with increase in soil depth. Soil bulk density was found to be consistent over the studied period for both the sites. In order to find the relationship between SOC and other soil parameters, linear regression analysis was performed. All the test of significance were conducted at a level alpha = 0.05. Significantly, it is to be noted that the sample size (n = 6) is not large enough to provide a very precise estimate of the strength of the relationship.