Vertical Distribution of Soil Organic Carbon and Nitrogen in a Tropical Community Forest of Nepal

Abstract EN

This paper reports the findings of a research conducted in Kankali community forest, Chitwan, Nepal, to quantify the vertical distribution of soil organic carbon (SOC) and nitrogen in 1 m soil profile depth.

This community forest represents a tropical Shorea robusta-dominated community forest.

It was found that the soil had 122.36 t/ha SOC and 12.74 t/ha nitrogen in 1 m soil profile in 2012, with 0.99% soil organic matter and 0.10% nitrogen concentration in average.

Carbon and nitrogen ratio (C/N ratio) of the soil was found to be 9.90.

Both bulk density and C/N ratio were found increasing with increase in soil depth.

The SOC and nitrogen were found significantly different across different soil layers up to 1 m soil profile depth.

The average pH of the forest soil was found to be 5.3.

Looking into the values of stocks of SOC and nitrogen, it is concluded that Kankali community forest has played a role in global climate change mitigation by storing considerable amounts of SOC.

Involvement of local community in management of tropical forest cannot be overlooked in the process of climate change mitigation.