A Review on: Management of Carbon in Dry Land Agriculture

Abstract

Dry land areas are defined as regions in which the ratio of total annual precipitation to potential evapotranspiration (P:ET or the Aridity Index, AI) ranges from 0.05 to 0.65. Dry lands have a strong impact on the global C cycle, in which Land-use changes, land degradation and desertification holds the major share on emission of CO2 into the atmosphere. Carbon sequestration is the long-term storage of carbon in oceans, soils, vegetation (especially forests), and geologic formations. C Management and land use can be used to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions by encouraging practices that sequester carbon (C) in the soil, thus creating a C sink for atmospheric CO2. Plowing native lands in dry land leads to dramatic losses of SOC through intensive soil disturbance that disrupts soil structure and enhances decomposition, in addition to accelerating soil erosion. Converting degraded lands to perennial vegetation, increasing net primary productivity (NPP) of agricultural ecosystems, and converting plow tillage to conservation reserve program and/or no-till farming are the most principal options to achieve carbon balance. Fruit tree based cropping systems in which the tree–cereal or tree- vegetable combination is useful strategy for mitigating the atmospheric CO2 in both plant as well as in the soil pools. And has maximum CO2 mitigation potential. Converting degraded lands to perennial vegetation and /or protected natural fallow, converting conventional tillage system to conservation reserve program and/or no-till farming system and application of integrated soil management are also use full agricultural practices for dry land carbon management.

Keywords: dry land areas, Carbon sequestration, greenhouse gases, SOC