Evaluating the effects of various agroforestry systems on soil physicochemical properties to enhance sustainable land use and productivity

Abstract

Climate change has become one of the most important environmental issues globally. It has remarkable results on plant production, water use and transport patterns. The risks to biodiversity are growing with the passage of each day. The destruction of natural habitat, decline in biological diversity, conversion of forests land into arable lands, excessive use of natural resources, rising sea levels, increase in the concentration of carbon dioxide and greenhouse gas emissions in the atmosphere, gradual increase in the earth’s average temperature and dominance of existing habitat by exotic species are some of the major consequences of climate change. By keeping in mind the current situation, the present study was designed to assess the carbon stocks and potential of carbon sequestration in irrigated forest plantations of southern Punjab, Pakistan. The main objective of the study was to check the soil physicochemical properties under tree-crop combinations in the Bahawalpur and Lodhran Districts. In this regard, soil samples were collected from the selected study Districts. Study findings showed that the in District Lodhran, the highest EC at a depth of 0-15 cm was found (1.43 dSm-1) and (1.25 dSm-1) at a depth of 15-30 cm was noticed for Sugarcane + Trees patterns whereas the lowest values observed at both bottoms for the Barseem + trees cropping systems were (1.17 dSm-1 and 0.97 dSm-1). In District Bahawalpur, at a depth of 0-15 cm and 15-30 cm, the highest EC measured for the Sugarcane + Trees cropping patterns was (1.67 dSm-1 and 1.36 dSm-1) while the lowest values noticed at the both bottoms for the Barseem + Trees cropping combinations were (1.29 dSm-1 and 1.13 dSm-1).