Climate Change and Environmental Sustainability
  • Year: 2015
  • Volume: 3
  • Issue: 1

Soil organic carbon: Towards better soil health, productivity and climate change mitigation

  • Author:
  • Shovik Deb1,, Pratap Bhanu Singh Bhadoria2, Biswapati Mandal3, Amitava Rakshit4, Harikesh Bahadur Singh5
  • Total Page Count: 9
  • Page Number: 26 to 34

1Assistant Professor, Department of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry, Uttar Banga Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Pundibari-736 165, West Bengal, India

2Professor, Department of Agricultural and Food Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur-721302, West Bengal, India

3Professor, Directorate of Research, Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Kalyani-741 235, West Bengal, India

4Assistant Professor, Department of Soil Science & Agricultural Chemistry, Institute of Agricultural Science, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi-221 005, Uttar Pradesh, India

5Professor, Department of Mycology & Plant Pathology, Institute of Agricultural Science, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi-221 005, Uttar Pradesh, India

*Corresponding author e-mail id: shovikiitkgp@gmail.com

Online published on 4 April, 2015.

Abstract

The presence of organic C in soil is a key determinant for soil quality and productivity. Soil, being the largest C sinks, also controls the global warming. In this regard, this review focused onto the soil C dynamics, C sequestration potential of soil and related C pools. Detailed discussion of several researches depicted that, C sequestration depends onto soil C saturation deficit, presence of biochemically protected recalcitrant C fractions, aggregation and aggregate associated physically shielded C. On the other hand, labile organic C is the soil nutrient reservoir and is closely related with diversified soil biology. For the sustainable and holistic soil resource management and to mitigate climate change, this study also highlighted the possible management practices towards longer residence time of C in soil.

Keywords

Soil organic C, C sequestration, Pools of soil C, Management practices, Soil quality, Environmental sustainability, Climate change