| Abstrakt: |
The land use types and soil management have a significant effect on soil properties. However, their impact on the stratification of soil properties, carbon management index (CMI) and soil degradation index (SDI) is still poorly documented in coastal light soils of south-eastern India. Soil samples were collected from six divergent land use types, Sugarcane (SC), Fallow-Tobacco (F-T), Paddy-Maize-Fallow (P-M-F), Eucalyptus + Bamboo (AF), Oil Palm (OP), and Forest (NF). The soil samples were collected at 0–5, 5–15, 15–30, and 30–45 cm soil depths, and contents of total organic carbon (TOC), labile organic carbon (LC), non-labile organic carbon (NLC), total nitrogen (TN), their stocks, stratification ratios (SRs), CMI, and SDI were determined. Results showed that the contents of TOC, LC, NLC, and TN in NF were significantly higher followed by OP, whereas the parameters were lower in F-T followed by P-M-F. The proportion of SOC and N stocks under NF were higher than F-T by 56.6% and 50.3%, respectively. With NF as a reference, the mean CMI followed the order of OP (78) > AF (60) > SC (59.5) > P-M-F (43.8) > F-T (36.3). The SR values of SOC and TN were highest (1.34 to 2.70) for NF, whereas it was lowest (1.10 to 1.54) in F-T in all soil depths. The highest cumulative SDI of −133.2% was observed in F-T followed by P-M-F (−117%). The CMI, SRs were lower and SDI was higher under F-T and P-M-F indicating poor soil quality and its degradation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
