Abstract:
Not only nature but human activities also provide ecosystem services alike agriculture and agro-forestry which both host a wide range of ecosystem services besides providing food and fiber for humans and animals. The efficiency of ecosystem services of a cultivated land depends on agricultural management choices. Current conventional land management approaches, that are generally unsustainable by causing various environmental problems such as pollution, loss of biodiversity and organic carbon, need to be well-defined for designing land use for agricultural production. This manuscript focuses on tillage and crop-pattern effect on soil organic carbon, which is a vital component not only for enhancing soil quality but for mitigation of climate change and desertification. The monitored plants for 10-year were peach (Prunus persica). apricot (Prunus armeniaca), cherry (Prunus avium L.). quince, pear, plum, grapevine, wheat, barley and pine that are under various land management methods namely tillage, minimum and no-tillage, cover crops, mineral/organic fertilization. The soil organic carbon trends revealed that in the studied semiarid climate zone for rainfed cultivation grapevine, and for irrigated cropping apricot had the highest organic carbon accumulation potential along with optimal C:N ratio.
