Soil Organic Carbon and Total Nitrogen in Temperate Apple Orchards of South Kashmir

Shabir A. Bangroo, Hamidullah Itoo, Tasneem Mubarak, Abdul R. Malik

Abstract


Soil organic carbon and nitrogen play animportant role in soil sustainability and crop production. The C/N ratio is used as a sensitive soil quality indicator and as a guide for rate of mineralization; hence critical for the ecosystem response to elevated atmospheric CO2. We studied SOC, total soil nitrogen (TSN) and C/N ratio of young apple orchard of district Kulgam. The SOC and TSN content ranged from 7.9and 0.75 g kg-1 in Kounserbal to 21.8 and 1.16 g kg-1 in Yaripora respectively. The C/N ratio ranged from 18.7 to Yaripora and 10.2 in Okey with a productivity of 12.1 and 9.1 Mg ha-1 respectively. We conclude that more efforts should be made to increase and maintain C/N ratio for effective soil CN balance and optimum C/N needs to be evaluated across conventional, high density planting and organic farming for achieving potential productivity of apple orchards under temperate conditions of Kashmir.

Keywords


Apple Orchards; C/N Ratio; Soil Organic Carbon; Total Nitrogen

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