QUANTIFICATION OF SOIL ORGANIC CARBON STOCK OF FORESTS IN SOLAN DISTRICT OF HIMACHAL PRADESH
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Date
2011
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ABSTRACT
The present investigation entitled “Quantification of soil organic carbon stock of
forests in Solan district of Himachal Pradesh” was conducted during 2010-2011 under six
forest types at both northern and southern aspect of Solan district (30o4453 to 31o2201 North
latitude and 76o3610 to 77o1514 East longitude) of Himachal Pradesh. The six forest types selected
for study were scrub, khair, bamboo, chir-pine, oak and deodar forests. The six forest types on northern
and southern aspect of Solan district were evaluated for their physical-chemical properties like pH, EC,
SOC, bulk density, coarse fragments and finally for their SOC stock. The soils of dominant forest types
on both aspects were found slightly acidic to near neutral in reaction, normal in EC and contained
24.69 to 38.83 per cent volume of coarse fragments. The SOC content under different forest types
followed the order as deodar > oak > bamboo > chir-pine > scrub > khair forests. The SOC content of
these forest types ranged between 9.76 g kg-1 to 29.74 g kg-1 in northern and 7.86 g kg-1 to 26.91 g kg-1
in southern aspect. Among different forest types, highest SOC content (18.9 g kg-1) was recorded in
surface and lowest in the sub-surface (16.7 g kg-1) layer. The bulk density ranged from 1.02 to 1.19 Mg
m-3 under different forest types of the district. It followed the order of khair > scrub > chir-pine >
bamboo > oak > deodar forests. Contrary to SOC distribution under different forest types of the district,
soil bulk density was found to increase with depth. The results have revealed that chir-pine forests
contained the highest stock (419.20 Gg C), whereas, khair forests were found to have the lowest SOC
stock (13.83 Gg C). The SOC stock followed the order of chir-pine > bamboo > scrub > oak > deodar
> khair forest. The contribution of the chir-pine forests towards the total SOC pool of the district was
43.08 per cent followed by 28.69, 13.51, 7.93, 5.37, and 1.42 per cent by bamboo, scrub, oak, deodar
and khair forests, respectively. The total SOC stock of the soils under six forest types of Solan district
was 973.06 Gg C.