Soil organic carbon fractionation of spoiled and unspoiled soils under different land use and land cover systems.

Alteration in land use and land cover is the key factor affecting the soil carbon fractions and its distribution. A study was carried out to estimate the carbon fractions in soils of agricultural, forest and pasture lands in two different areas separated on the basis of industrial activities (spoiled and unspoiled) to get an insight on the long-term soil carbon storage potential. The results showed that the mean values of the total organic carbon (TOC) and various fractions are significantly different between the land use types (p < 0.05). Irrespective of the land uses, the forest land showed significantly higher TOC (7.97) than agricultural land (6.98) and pasture lands (6.68). Further, evaluation of carbon management index (CMI) indicated that forest lands had highest CMI value compared to the other land uses. The spoiled area had significantly higher TOC and carbon fractions than their respective counterparts in the unspoiled area (p < 0.05) due to the negative industrial impact on soil biological processes. The PCA separates the sources of different carbon fractions and revealed an association of N (nitrogen) and K (potassium) with VL (very labile) and L (labile) fractions and the association of P (phosphorous) with stable R (recalcitrant) form. Therefore, it can be inferred from the present study that alterations in land use not only result in soil quality degradation but also trigger a reduction in potential for long term soil C sequestration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]