Monitoring of soil organic carbon and nitrogen stocks in different land use under surface water erosion in a semi-arid drainage basin of Iran

Soil organic carbon (SOC) and soil nitrogen (SN) are the principal components in soil quality assessment, and in mitigation the global greenhouse effect. In Iran, little information exists on the stocks of SOC and SN. SOC and SN stocks are a function of the SOC and SN concentrations and the bulk density of the soil that are prone to changes under land use types and soil erosion. The objective of this study was to evaluate SOC and SN stock in different land use types under surface erosion at catchment scale. In view of this, bulk density, SOC and SN concentration were measured in 39 different sampling sites of three main groups of land use affected by surface erosion namely, rangeland, crop field, and forest land at Taleghani catchment, Khoramabad, Iran. The results showed that SOC and SN stock under all land use types was significantly different (P < 0.01). SOC and SN stocks were greatest in the forest land use. The SOC stock for the 30 cm soil layer in different land uses varied in order forest (66.9 Mg ha−1) > rangeland (63.3 Mg ha−1) > crop field (47.2 Mg ha−1; P < 0.01). Also the SN stock had the same trend in all studied land uses. These results can be useful as a scientific basis for selecting the proper soil management as a simple and low-cost approach to mitigate the SOC and SN loss. ©JASE