Carbon stock and aggregate associated carbon in cotton growing soils

Soil organic carbon plays an important role in the carbon cycling of terrestrial ecosystems, variations in soil organic carbon stocks are very important for the ecosystem. Carbon in soil exists in organic (soil organic carbon: SOC) and inorganic carbon forms mainly in carbonate minerals, such as calcium carbonate (CaCO3) and dolomite (Ca Mg (CO3)2). For the purpose of determining soil inorganic carbon (SIC) in the present study the amount of CaCO3 present in the soil has been considered as SIC. To the best of our knowledge, no attempts have been made to understand how environmental changes that occurred in the 21th century have altered soil organic carbon (SOC) dynamics in India. These studies represents a unique and new assessment of SOC and SIC stock and sequestered carbon both from organic and inorganic at Gujarat cotton growing areas (irrigated and rainfed), based on experimental results and data builds a standard framework to be used by further studies on other environmental parameters. Our study provides a generic framework for further applications.