Soil carbon management in rainfed production systems

Abstract

Low input farming, under rainfed condition coincided with high temperature have adverse impact on soil organic carbon (SOC) through depletion of nutrient status, and low productivity. About 67% of the Indian soils are deficient in SOC. Increasing SOC stocks in dryland help in mitigating the increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentration; besides improving the soil quality attributes such as stability of aggregates, soil fertility and nutrient cycling etc. Therefore, this article aims on the present status of SOC and key reasons for its depletion in Indian soils and technological approaches to achieve the improved profile of SOC stocks in dryland areas. Use of FYM, vermi-compost, oilcakes, poultry manure, judicious fertilizer application, reduce/no tillage, utilization of crop residue, integrated nutrient management, use of bio-fertilizers, rotation with high-residue/high biomass crops, application of bio-char, use of cover crops, amelioration of degraded land with organic amendments, switch from single cropping to inter-cropping, pasture cropping
and agroforestry with trees/shrubs with crops, introducing pulse crops in cropping system to promote atmospheric N2 fixation, eliminating summer fallow periods, avoiding residue burning, use of technology for soil carbon monitoring etc are more or less effective for increasing carbon sequestration.