Department of Environmental Science, College of Basic Science and Humanities Govind Ballav Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar -263145, Uttarakhand.
*E-mail: umamelkania@yahoo.co.in
Online published on 11 January, 2013.
One of the most promising tools for the estimation of soil organic carbon stock is through appropriate models. The objective of the present study was to evaluate the performance of a widely used soil organic matter model i.e., RothC-26.3 in predicting the turnover of soil organic carbon in the top soil layer (0-30cm) in different forests of Kumaon Himalayas in Uttarakhand for the period 2008–10. The model was calibrated for plant carbon input for the year 2008–09 utilizing the observed annual change in total organic carbon (TOC) and subsequently validated for the year 2009–10. The performance of the model was evaluated on the basis of four statistical parameters, i.e.; coefficient of determination (R2), root mean square error (RMSE, %), model efficiency (ME, %) and student's t-test. High R2 (0.99), low RMSE (2.24), high ME (99.82) and low MRE (0.12) were observed during validation for different sites. Student's t-test also showed that observed and simulated mean TOC were not significantly different at 95% confidence level indicating that the measured TOC pool was in good agreement with the modeled TOC pool. Hence, it is concluded that RothC 26.3 is a suitable soil organic carbon model which can be utilized for evaluating soil carbon sequestration potential of different forests of Uttarakhand. However, long term studies would be a better prospect in further evaluating the model performance in Himalayan forest ecosystem.
Forest ecosystem, RothC-26.3 model, Soil carbon sequestration
