Active and Passive Carbon Fractions in Contrasting Cropping Systems, Tillage Practices, and Soil Types

S. Rakesh (), Abhas Kumar Sinha, Deepranjan Sarkar, Dewali Roy, Divya Bodiga, Samaresh Sahoo, Prakash Kumar Jha, Pradeep Kumar Dubey and Amitava Rakshit
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S. Rakesh: Department of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry, Uttar Banga Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Coochbehar 736165, India
Abhas Kumar Sinha: Department of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry, Uttar Banga Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Coochbehar 736165, India
Deepranjan Sarkar: Integral Institute of Agricultural Science and Technology, Integral University, Lucknow 226026, India
Dewali Roy: Division of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry, Indian Agricultural Research Institute, Pusa, New Delhi 110012, India
Divya Bodiga: Department of Silviculture & Agroforestry, Sam Higginbottom University of Agricultural, Technology and Sciences, Prayagraj 211007, India
Samaresh Sahoo: Department of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry, Uttar Banga Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Coochbehar 736165, India
Prakash Kumar Jha: Feed the Future Sustainable Intensification Innovation Lab, Department of Agronomy, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS 66506, USA
Pradeep Kumar Dubey: Institute of Environment and Sustainable Development, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi 221005, India
Amitava Rakshit: Department of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry, Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi 221005, India

Land, 2023, vol. 12, issue 2, 1-22

Abstract: The rate of change in the relative amount of active and passive carbon (AC and PC) due to the land management practices (cropping systems combined with tillage) may vary with soil types depending on their level of chemical and/or physical protection from the decomposition but has rarely been directly measured. We have quantified the C storage potentiality of different soil types, namely old alluvial Inceptisol of Malda and recent alluvial Entisol of Coochbehar in West Bengal (subtropical eastern India) under the influence of different cropping systems (rice-maize: RM and rice-wheat: RW) and tillage practices (zero-tillage: ZT and conventional tillage: CT). The key objective was to demonstrate the short-term impact of conservation agriculture (CA) on soil C dynamics over the conventional practice. Research revealed that after short-term CA, total organic carbon (TOC), AC, PC, and total nitrogen (TN) showed significant ( p < 0.05) improvement under the RM cropping system over the RW. The highest TOC content under the RM cropping system was recorded in the sites of Malda over the Coochbehar sites. The ZT significantly ( p < 0.05) enhanced the TOC in the upper layers (0–5 and 5–10 cm) and the CT showed improvements in the lower depths (10–20 cm). We observed some irregular variations in the interactions of the cropping system and tillage with respect to different sites. However, the ZT performed better in improving C fractions under RM and RW as compared to CT. The TOC and TN stocks were maximum in the lower depth which was evident in both soil types. The TOC linearly regressed on TN accounted for 94.2% variability (R 2 = 0.942) of the C accumulation in soil and vice-versa. The PC was in a significant relationship with TN (R 2 = 0.943), but AC was moderately regressed (R 2 = 0.851). Lower stratification ratio values in Coochbehar soils (sandy loam in texture) indicated higher profile distribution of AC and PC in the soil profile; while in the Inceptisol, accumulation of the C fractions on the soil surface due to heavy texture resulted in the higher stratification values. The novelty of this study is that old alluvial Inceptisol showed a comparatively greater amount of AC and PC storage capability in comparison with the new alluvial Entisol. Conclusively, our study demonstrated that the adoption of conservation agriculture (CA practice/ZT) in cropping systems with higher C biomass input would significantly enhance the AC and PC fractions; however, the amount of storage is highly governed by the soil type and climatic factors.

Keywords: C fractions; zero-tillage; rice-wheat system; rice-maize system; Entisol; Inceptisol (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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