ABSTRACT
To understand the effects of land use system and its cropping techniques, the study on carbon stock and soil nutrients in response to varied land use systems and soil depths in Chandel district was carried out during 2020 from five different locations in the Chandel district that include a variety of land use systems such as Forest area, Jhum cultivation after 15 years, Jhum cultivation after 10 years, Jhum cultivation after 10 years from different sub division of the district, Jhum cultivation after 5 years, Intermittent Jhum area, Oak forest area, Teak forest area, Pine forest area, Agri-horti jhum cropping system area and Maize based cropping system area. The study revealed that Forest soils shows significantly higher Organic carbon content of 2.73 % in 0-15 cm and 2.04% in 30-45 cm soil depth respectively than the other land use system of Chandel district. Available N was also found to be significantly higher in forest soils i.e. 533.49 kg/ha in 0-15 cm soil depth and 475.14 kg/ha in 30-45 cm soil depth as compared to other land use systems. Similarly, available P2O5 of 10.92 kg/ha and 9.97 kg/ha in 0-15 cm and 30-45 cm soil depth respectively and K2O of 278.08 kg/ha in 0-15 cm and 266.11 kg/ha in 30-45 cm were also recorded to be significantly higher in forest soil which was followed by the Jhum cultivation after 15 years in Chandel district. Next to forest area soils, Jhum cultivation after 15 years shows higher organic carbon content and other soil nutrients as compare to other land use systems due to the longer waiting period of cultivation. These results indicated that the land under more vegetation and less disturbed areas have higher soil nutrient and organic carbon as compared to other land use system. Thus it may be concluded that, variations in soil fertility parameters need immediate improvement in soil health of Jhum lands and other land use systems.