Journal of the Indian Society of Soil Science

Impact of prevalent silvicultural systems on soil stability indices and potential carbon storage in fragile Shivalik region of lower Himalayas in Haryana was studied. Three established plantations of Eucalyptus hybrid (35 years old), Acacia catechu (35 years old) and Acacia nilotica (15 years old) were studied for various soil stability indices like, dispersion ratio, erosion ratio, ‘n value’ and water stable aggregates. Water stable aggregates were found to be more under Acacia catechu and ‘n value’ was lowest under Eucalyptus hybrid. Dispersion ratio and erosion ratio varied non-significantly among the three vegetation systems. After 35 years of plantation, soils stored more organic carbon under A. catechu (50.3 t C ha⁻¹) as compared to E. hybrid (35.3 t C ha⁻¹). The lowest value (28.5 t C ha⁻¹) of organic carbon was found under 15 years old plantation of A. nilotica. Temporal variation of soil organic carbon was noticed under Acacia vegetation. Carbon sequestration was found to be more under fast growing E. hybrid coppice rotation (14.4 t C ha⁻¹year¹) as compared to Acacia species.