Not AvailableSoil organic carbon (SOC) is the largest among three
major carbon pools of global ecosystems. During the
past few years, global warming and forcible land-use
changes have resulted in a huge loss of this major
carbon pool and as a consequence, concentration of
atmospheric CO2 has increased. To mitigate the
potential risks arising from atmospheric abundance of
CO2, adoption of carbon sequestration strategies at
different landscape scales is a major option. For this
purpose, proper estimates of SOC stock per unit area
are essential. In this study, we have estimated the SOC
stock of a typical agricultural farm from hot arid ecosystem
of India and also its spatial variation within
the farm. The surface map of the SOC stock revealed
that introduction of cultivation practices in fragile
lands of the desert region has resulted in huge depletion
of soil carbon. For example, the SOC stock of 10-
years cultivated plots was found to be almost half of
the SOC stock of recently cultivated plots of the farm.
The results also showed that previous reports on
large-scale estimates of SOC stock for hot arid region
of India do not match with the current estimate from
a farm scale of the same region. Consideration of spatial
variation of SOC during calculation of SOC stock
has helped us prepare a surface map of SOC stock of
the farm, which may further be used as an essential
requirement for implementation of site-specific carbon
sequestration strategies and proper carbon credit
programmes in the agricultural farms of India.Not Availabl
