Abstract
Climate is changing around the globe due to increased concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere. Vachellia
nilotica (L.) P.J.H. Hurter & Mabb., commonly known as babul, based agroforestry systems have the great potential to
sequester the atmospheric carbon dioxide in both plant parts and soil, thus can perform a vital role in mitigating climate change.
The objective of this study was to quantify the role of linearly planted V. nilotica farm trees in C sequestration. Keeping in the
view the major study objective, linearly planted V. nilotica farmlands located in district Faisalabad were selected. Carbon stock
and sequestration along with growth and biomass were assessed in four different aged linearly planted V. nilotica farm trees
under semi-arid conditions. The soil organic carbon (SOC) was measured at two depths: 0-15 cm and 15-30 cm. The maximum
diameter at breast height (DBH) and height was observed in 8 years old trees as compared to 4 and 6 years old trees. Plant
biomass increased with age and maximum biomass (14.91 t ha-1
) was estimated at 8 years of age. Aboveground carbon stock
and CO2 sequestration increased from 0.72 t ha-1
and 2.66 t ha-1
at 2 years to 7.17 t ha-1 and 26.27 t ha-1
at 8 years of trees. The
amount of SOC tended to be lower with depth but increased with tree age and ranged from 14.24 t ha-1 to 24.32 t ha-1 in surface
soil (0-15cm) and 13.52 t ha-1
to 21.48 t ha-1
in subsoil (15-30 cm). The ecosystem carbon stock (plant + soil) varied from 37.23
t ha-1
at 2 years to 91.98 t ha-1 at 8 years of age. The above findings indicated that planting V. nilotica along the boundaries of
farm crops not only capture carbon to mitigate climate change but also provide long term accumulation of biomass.
Ghulam Yasin, Muhammad Farrakh Nawaz, Muhammad Talha Bin Yousaf, Sadaf Gul, Ihsan Qadir, Nabeel Khan Niazi, Muhammad Azeem Sabir. (2020) CARBON STOCK AND CO2 SEQUESTRATION RATE IN LINEARLY PLANTED Vachellia nilotica FARM TREES, Pakistan Journal of Agricultural Sciences, Volume 57, Issue 3.
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