Liter Decay and Soil Quality of Olive Orchards of Balochistan: an Insight into Potential for Sequestering Organic Carbon
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31580/pjmls.v7i1.3013Keywords:
Litter decay, Microbial biomass carbon, Olive groves, Soil macrofauna, Soil organic matterAbstract
Olive groves have found to be beneficial for soil quality and can play an important role in sequestering the organic carbon of soil of arid regions. The Pakistan Oil Seed Department, Government of Pakistan, have been promoting the cultivation of olive groves in various regions of Balochistan province of Pakistan. This study evaluated the quality of soils that were taken from the underneath of olive trees from four regions of Balochistan province, Pakistan; Zhob, Loralai, Kilasaifullah and Quetta. The olive stands of Zhob city are natural; whereas, the olive groves of other study sites have been cultivated. Soil samples from barren rangelands of each study site were also taken as a control. Results indicate 2-3 times significantly higher concentration of soil organic matter (SOM) and soil organic carbon (SOC) in olive grove sites than their control sites except for Zhob site. No difference between control and olive grove sites was observed for mineral nitrogen (nitrate) and Olsen phosphorus). The abundance of microbial biomass carbon showed a positive relation with the concentration of soil organic matter. The laboratory incubation study, which was related to the decomposition of twigs (taken from olive trees) buried in the soils that were taken from the study sites revealed significant differences. Results showed a positive relation of weight loss of twigs with the concentration of soil organic matter and microbial biomass carbon. However, weight loss of twigs:soil organic matter was significantly lower for the soils taken from olive groves than control site. Furthermore, number of soil macrofauna species was 2-3 times significantly higher in olive groves than control sites. Our findings indicate that the cultivation of olive groves improved the under-investigated soil quality parameters and exhibited a potential for the sequestration of soil organic carbon.
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