Informatics Publishing Limited

K. Rajan ¹, R. Ragupathy ², D. Dinesh ³, Deepthi Eswar ⁴, P. Raja ⁵, U. Surendran ⁶

Affiliations
1 ICAR-Indian Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Research Centre, Datia 475 661, IN
2 ICAR-Indian Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Research Centre, Udhagamandalam 643 006, IN
3 ICAR-Indian Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Research Centre, Vasad 388 306, IN
4 Department of Agriculture and Farmer’s Welfare, Vellore 632 001, IN
5 ICAR-Indian Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Research Centre, Koraput 763 002, IN
6 Centre for Water Resource Development and Management, Calicut 673 571, IN

Abstract

Impact of rainfall and slopes on soil organic carbon (SOC) dynamics was assessed under tea and coffee plantations, land covers, in Western Ghats Mountain (WGM). Severe water erosion in the western side of WGM by heavy rainfall and land sloppiness recorded less SOC (3.07%) compared to the eastern side (4.03%) in tea plantations. Similar trend in SOC was observed in coffee plantations, with 1.98% in western side and 3.25% in eastern side. Loss of soil organic carbon stock under tea plantations in western sides was 0.346 million tonnes and in coffee plantations it was 0.190 million tonnes. Hence, the total organic carbon loss was 0.536 million tonnes. Highest SOC content and stocks were recorded in steep slopes in tea and coffee plantations due to dense biomass cover and adoption of soil and water conservation measures.

Keywords

Coffee, rainfall, slope, soil organic carbon, tea, Western Ghats Mountain

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