Impacts of conservation agriculture on total soil organic carbon retention potential under an irrigated agro-ecosystem of the western Indo-Gangetic Plains

Sequestration of C in arable soils has been considered as a potential mechanism to mitigate the elevated levels of atmospheric greenhouse gases. We evaluated impacts of conservation agriculture on change in total soil organic C (SOC) and relationship between C addition and storage in a sandy loam soil of the Indo-Gangetic Plains. Cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) and wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) crops were grown during the first three years (2008-2011) and in the last year, maize (Zea mays L), wheat and green gram (Vigna radiate L.) were cultivated. Results indicate the plots under zero tillage with bed planting (ZT-B) and zero tillage with flat planting (ZT-F) had nearly 28 and 26% higher total SOC stock compared with conventional tillage and bed planting (CT-B) (similar to 5.5 Mg ha(-1)) in the 0-5 cm soil layer. Plots under ZT-B and ZT-F contained higher total SOC stocks in the 0-5 and 5-15 cm soil layers than CT-B plots. Although there were significant variations in total SOC stocks in the surface layers, SOC stocks were similar under all treatments in the 0-30 cm soil layer. Residue management had no impact on SOC stocks in all layers, despite plots under cotton/maize + wheat residue (C/M+W RES) contained similar to 13% higher total SOC concentration than no residue treated plots (N RES; similar to 7.6 g kg(-1)) in the 0-5 cm layer. Hence, tillage and residue management interaction effects were not significant. Although CT-B and ZT-F had similar maize aboveground biomass yields, CT-F treated plots yielded 16% less maize biomass than CT-B plots. However, both wheat and green gram (2012) yields were not affected by tillage. Plots under C/M + W RES had similar to 17, 13, 13 and 32% higher mean cotton, maize, wheat and green gram aboveground biomass yields than N RES plots, yielding similar to 16% higher estimated root (and rhizodeposition) C input in the 0-30 cm soil layer than N RES plots. About 9.3% of the gross C input contributed towards the increase in SOC content under the residue treated plots. However, similar to 7.6 and 10.2% of the gross C input contributed towards the increase in SOC content under CT and if, respectively. Thus, both ZT and partial or full residue retention is recommended for higher soil C retention and sustained crop productivity. (c) Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.