Mohammad Reza Rigi, Atefeh Alie Anvari, Farhad Zolfaghari, Khaled Salimi,
Volume 10, Issue 4 (12-2023)
Abstract
Introduction: Nowadays, climate change and global warming caused by increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases, especially carbon dioxide, is one of the major challenges facing sustainable development. Carbon accumulation in plant biomass and soils is the simplest and economically way to reduce levels of this atmospheric gas. No research has been done on the assessment of the potential of soil carbon deposition and accumulation in the Capparis decidua and Prosopis cineraria species.
Data and Methodology: The objective of this study was to evaluate the soil carbon accumulation in Capparis decidua and Prosopis cineraria plant species in Keshtegan of Saravan, Iran. Therefore, in order to determine the amount of carbon stored in the soil, soil sampling was done by random-systematic method. One hundered-meter transects were randomly selected in the study areas and sampling points were dug at similar intervals along the transect for sampling.Soil samples were taken from depth of 0 to 30 centimeters under the canopy of Capparis decidua and Prosopis cineraria and bare soil as control (20 samples from each area). Soil organic carbon, soil bulk density, pH, salinity and content of clay, silt and sand were recorded.
Description and Interpretation of Results: The analysis of the data showed that there is a significant difference between the investigated treatments in terms of the amount of clay, organic carbon and carbon accumulation. The average comparison results showed that there is a significant difference between the soil covered by plant species and the soil of the control area. The amount of soil carbon accumulated in the area covered by Capparis decidua (1.32 tons per hectare) was significantly higher than that in area covered by Prosopis cineraria (0.75 tons per hectare) and the control area (0.25 tons per hectare). It shows the positive effect of two plant species on the amount of soil carbon accumulation. The average amount of organic carbon in the area with the Capparis decidua, Prosopis cineraria and the control area was 0.75, 0.31 and 0.1 tons per hectare, respectively.Soil organic matter and sand percentage under the canopy of both plant species were higher than the control. In terms of other characteristics, no significant difference was observed in the three regions. According to the results, it can be stated that the presence of plant canopy can increases the amount of carbon accumulation in the soil and led to global warming mitigation.
