Soil C Stocks and Soil Quality in Integrated Crop-Livestock-Forestry in Brazil

Integrated Crop-Livestock-Forestry systems (ICLF) are potential carbon sinks. Here we present soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks in an ICLF system at 3 and 11 years after implementation. The ICLF was implemented in 2008/2009 at Boa Vereda farm, in Cachoeira Dourada, Goiás state, Central-West region of Brazil, on a clay Ferralsol. SOC stocks were determined within and between rows of trees, hereby called alley, in three soil layers (0.0-0.3, 0.3-1.0 and 0.0-1.0 m) in 2012 and 2020. A non-cultivated pasture was used as reference. Results show a trend for increased soil C stocks at 0.0-1.0 m under ICLF system from 3 to 11 years after implementation compared to the non-cultivated pasture. There was also a higher C accumulation rate under ILPF at this soil layer, compared to the same pasture. All treatments lost C at 0.3- 1.0 m, but the non-cultivated pasture lost C the most rapidly. At 0.0-0.3 m all treatments gained C over time. These data only relate to the effect of the presence of trees in the ICLF, weighted SOC stocks from tree-rows and alleys were not calculated in this paper