Current World Environment

Erosion through ravines causes many problems on bank of Chambal river in Madhya Pradesh. It damages rangelands, croplands and infra-structures. Plantation of different fruit trees (Moringa oleifera, Amblica officinalis, Psidium guaijava, Ziziphuszezuba, Punica grantum, Annonasquamosa), forest / medicinal trees (Cenchr sciliaris,Azardirechtaindica, Pongamia pinnata, Albizialebbeck,  Dalbergiasisso and Acacia nilotica)) and some grasses (lemon grass, pamarosa, para and napier grass) under four management modules viz. M₁-diversified cropping system, M₂- Agri-horticultural, M₃- Horti-pastoral, M₄- Silvi-medicinal and M₅- Silvi-pastoral were raised during 2012 at 3x3 m spacing. Plants absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere by the process of photosynthesis and store the carbon (C) as biomass.The highest biomass carbon wasyielded in ModuleM₃, followed by M₂, M₅, M₄ and M₁, respectively. The average biomass carbon was found highest in grasses followed by fruit and forest trees. The study shows that the carbon sequestration in soil (0-15 cm) was found highest in M₄ (0.45%) followed by M₅ (0.44%), M₁ (0.36%), M₂ (0.35%) and between depth 15-25 cm the soil sequestration was highest in M₁. The percent increase in soil carbon from 2012 to 2017 was highest in M₁ (0-15 cm), while in depth 15-25 cm M₄ showedhighest increase in soil carbon. Available nutrient status showedtremendous changes over initial value whereas available phosphorous showed decreasing trend under all modules after six years of studies.