Title : Soil management effect on carbon storage in the semi-deciduous zone of Ghana
Abstract:
Soil management influences soil organic carbon (SOC) storage This study was conducted at the Agricultural Research Station of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Anwomaso, to understand the effect of tillage (main plot factor) and soil nutrient management (subplot factor) on potential carbon storage on the benchmark (Kotei) soil. Tillage practices and soil nutrient management considered were – no-till (NT), Hoeing (H), plough plant (PP), plough harrow (PH) and 3 t ha-1 poultry manure (PM), 60-40-40 NPK (NPK),1.5 t ha-1 poultry manure + 30-20-20 NPK (½ R) and zero amendment (NA). No-tillage increased SOC storage (45.3 t ha-1 at 0-15 cm depth), whereas PP stored higher SOC in the subsoil (31.4 t ha-1 at 15-30 cm depth). The stable soil carbon pool was highest (8.19 t ha-1 at 0-15 cm depth and 9.93 t ha-1 at 15-30 cm depth) under PP. Soil nutrient management had limited effect on carbon sequestration. The combined effect of NT/PM recorded the highest SOC storage (19.43 t ha-1) in the sM fraction and PP/PM stored more SOC (11.53 t ha-1) in the mM than other interactions. The study concluded that continuous application of PM on NT and PP, may have contributed to the huge jump in SOC storage from the initial SOC levels at the beginning of the study and that the findings do support the hypothesis that stated that NT and its combination with PM will store the most SOC even though the PP/PM recorded the highest storage of the persistent pools of SOC which is found in the microaggregates and the silt and clay fractions.
Keywords: carbon sequestration, soil aggregates, ploughing, No Tillage, interaction
