Dynamics of Organic Carbon Fractions, Soil Fertility, and Aggregates Affected by Diverse Land-Use Cultivation Systems in Semiarid Degraded Land

Maintaining the soil quality in the arid dry system is vital for the restoring of the fertility of deserted rangeland soil in dry environments. There is a dire need to understand how the cultivation system modifications may change soil organic carbon (SOC) fractions, soil aggregation, and soil macro- and micronutrient contents in the arid environment. In this study, we selected five cultivation systems, viz., tomato, wheat, coconut, banana, and alfalfa. The samples of soils were obtained from different two layers (0 to 20 and 20 to 40 cm). Results showed that among all the cultivating systems, the highest values of SOC (12.0 and 11.32 g kg-1), particulate organic carbon (0.5 and 0.43 g kg-1), dissolved organic carbon (0.27 and 0.23 g kg-1), easily oxidizable carbon (3.10 and 2.60 g kg-1), available nitrogen (0.10% and 0.09%), available phosphorus (13.20 and 8.90 mg kg-1), available potassium (105 and 100 mg kg-1), available zinc (1.20 and 1.15 mg kg-1), available copper (2.90 and 2.75 mg kg-1), available boron (4.90 and 3.70 mg kg-1), macroaggregate fractions, mean weight diameter, and geometric mean diameter were sustained in the alfalfa and banana cultivation systems, respectively. However, microaggregates 2-0.25 mm were noted higher in the coconut cultivation system. SOC exposed a significant correlation with carbon fractions and available nutrients. This study confirmed that alfalfa and banana cultivation systems have the potential for storing, maintaining SOC in soils for better soil quality and for improving crop productivity and nutrient availability under the semi-arid dry environment.