Abstract
Soil serves to store and cycle soil organic carbon (SOC) and total nitrogen (TN), which are essential for functioning terrestrial ecosystems. We measured soil organic carbon (SOC) and total nitrogen (TN) concentrations and stocks in three soil depths (0–15, 15–30, and 30–50 cm) for four different land uses, namely, rainfed cultivation (RF), agroforestry (AF), open pasture (OP), and silvopasture (SP), with five replications within a watershed in Ethiopia. OP land use showed higher SOC concentration in the 0–15 cm layer. The highest SOC concentration (12.6 g kg−1) in 0–15 cm depth was found in OP land use system. Except for SP (8.6 g kg−1), it was significantly higher (p < 0.001) than those in other land use systems. The concentration of TN across land uses in different depths followed a trend similar to that of SOC. Thus, the highest TN concentration in 0–15 cm layer in OP (1.1 g kg−1) was significantly higher (p < 0.01) than that in RF land use. OP also had significantly higher (P < 0.05) SOC and TN stocks in the 0–50 cm depth than those in RF. The results of this study suggest that conversion of RF into grass and tree-based land uses has large technical potential for SOC and TN sequestration.
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Acknowledgements
Some laboratory facilities were provided by Mekelle University, Ethiopia. Practical laboratory work (soil particle fractionation and associated soil carbon C and N determinations) were done at the laboratory facility at the Carbon Management and Sequestration Center (C-MASC), Ohio State University (OSU), Columbus, Ohio, USA. Financial assistance from the Norwegian State Education Loan Fund for the first author is gratefully acknowledged. Last but not least, the anonymous reviewers are appreciated for their constructive comments.
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Gelaw, A.M., Singh, B.R., Lal, R. (2015). Land Use Impact on Soil Organic Carbon and Total Nitrogen Storage in a Typical Dry Land District in Tigray, Northern Ethiopia. In: Lal, R., Singh, B., Mwaseba, D., Kraybill, D., Hansen, D., Eik, L. (eds) Sustainable Intensification to Advance Food Security and Enhance Climate Resilience in Africa. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-09360-4_4
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