Soil Carbon and Soil Respiration Rate of Urban Forests in Lower Gangetic Plain

Soil contain good amount of carbon stock. The amount of carbon stock depends on soil texture, climatic parameters, vegetation, and landuse pattern and soil moisture. The study has been conducted at two sites in the lower Gangetic plain of Bengal basin in eastern India. The main objective of this study is to estimate the soil carbon, soil organic carbon and soil respiration rate of urban forests in the lower Gangetic plain. At Banobitan, soil was slightly alkaline; moisture content ranged between 7.26–9.74% and soil texture was sandy loam. Total carbon and soil organic carbon ranged from 24.2–36.5 gm/kg and 2.8–8.3 gm/kg, respectively. At Indian Botanic Garden, soil was slightly acidic in nature; moisture content varied between 16.2–21.7% and soil texture was clayey loam. Total carbon and soil organic carbon in the soil varied between 58–80.1 gm/kg and 8.3–12.6 gm/kg, respectively. Estimated mean soil total carbon and mean soil organic carbon content at Banobitan and Indian Botanic garden were 43.70 Mg C/ha and 7.99 Mg C/ha, and 96.32 Mg C/ha and 14.57 Mg C/ha. Estimated annual soil respiration rate of Indian Botanic Garden (3.34 t C/ha/yr) was higher than Banobitan (2.07 t C/ha/yr).