Short and Long-Term Effect of Land Use and Management on Soil Organic Carbon Stock in Semi-Desert Areas of North Africa-Tunisia

Fatma Baraket, Manuel González-Rosado, Nadhem Brahim, Núria Roca, Hadda Ben Mbarek, Marcin Świtoniak, Rayda Chaker, Ángel Sánchez-Bellón, Hafedh Rigane, Kamel Gargouri and Luis Parras-Alcántara
Additional contact information
Fatma Baraket: Research Laboratory of Environmental Sciences and Sustainable Development (L18ES32), Earth Sciences Department, Sfax Faculty of Sciences, P.O. Box 1087, Sfax 3000, Tunisia
Manuel González-Rosado: SUMAS Research Group, Department of Agricultural Chemistry, Soil Science and Microbiology, Faculty of Science, Agrifood Campus of International Excellence—ceiA3, University of Cordoba, 14071 Cordoba, Spain
Nadhem Brahim: Department of Geology, Faculty of Sciences of Tunis, University of Tunis El Manar, Tunis 2092, Tunisia
Núria Roca: Departament de Biologia Evolutiva, Ecologia i Ciències Ambientals, Universitat de Barcelona, Av. Diagonal 643, 08028 Barcelona, Spain
Hadda Ben Mbarek: Research Laboratory of Environmental Sciences and Sustainable Development (L18ES32), Earth Sciences Department, Sfax Faculty of Sciences, P.O. Box 1087, Sfax 3000, Tunisia
Marcin Świtoniak: Department of Soil Science and Landscape Management, Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń, 1 Lwowska Str., 87-100 Toruń, Poland
Rayda Chaker: Olive Institute, University of Sfax, P.O. Box 1087, Sfax 3000, Tunisia
Ángel Sánchez-Bellón: Department of Earth Sciences, Faculty of Sciences, Campus University of Puerto Real, Cadiz University, 11519 Puerto Real, Spain
Hafedh Rigane: Research Laboratory of Environmental Sciences and Sustainable Development (L18ES32), Earth Sciences Department, Sfax Faculty of Sciences, P.O. Box 1087, Sfax 3000, Tunisia
Kamel Gargouri: Olive Institute, University of Sfax, P.O. Box 1087, Sfax 3000, Tunisia
Luis Parras-Alcántara: SUMAS Research Group, Department of Agricultural Chemistry, Soil Science and Microbiology, Faculty of Science, Agrifood Campus of International Excellence—ceiA3, University of Cordoba, 14071 Cordoba, Spain

Agriculture, 2021, vol. 11, issue 12, 1-15

Abstract: Soil organic carbon (SOC) plays an important role in the global C cycle, as well as in the maintenance and improvement of the soil quality. Over time, special attention has been paid to it in the study of the SOC reserves worldwide; however, reduced attention has been given to assessing the spatial patterns of SOC stock (SOCS) in semi-desert ecosystems. In this line, there are no conclusive studies in drylands of Africa affected by aeolian processes (semi-desert conditions) mainly due to the complexity of sample collection, and this is especially significant in some soil types such as Arenosols (AR) and Calcisols (CL). This study evaluated the spatial variability of SOC and SOCS in AR and CL with woody crops in relation to land use and management (old plantations > 100 years: centenary olive grove; new plantations < 12 years: young olive grove, almond, and pistachio) in semi-desert conditions. For this purpose, 16 soil profiles (for 0–40 and 40–100 cm depth) were selected and studied in an experimental area of Menzel Chaker-Sfax in southeastern Tunisia (North Africa). The main results indicated that the SOCS on average was higher in Old Cultivated AR (OC-AR) with 41.16 Mg ha −1 compared to Newly Cultivated AR (NC-AR) with 25.13 Mg ha −1 . However, the SOCS decreased after a long period of cultivation in CL from 43.00 Mg ha −1 (Newly Cultivated CL: NC-CL) to 32.19 Mg ha −1 (Old Cultivated CL: OC-CL). This indicates that in the long term, CL has more capacity to store SOC than AR, and that in the short term, AR is more sensitive to land management than CL.

Keywords: arid climate; land use; land management; Calcisols; Arenosols; soil organic carbon stocks; olive grove; almond grove; pistachio grove (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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