Page 159 - Agroforestry system - book inner (final corrected) - 9.-3-21_Neat

National level e-symposium on “Agroforestry system for augmenting livestock
productivity and empowering resource poor rural farmers”

Results and Discussion

The maximum total crop biomass was registered under control french bean and oats (7.85 t ha ). Overall
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highest values of total biomass were observed under agroforestry system of apple + rajmash and Oats. The
treatment, apple + rajmash and oats displayed highest values for both total tree biomass (29.16 t ha ) and
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overall biomass of system (33.00 t ha ). Maximum value of soil organic carbon (46.02 t ha ) was observed
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under apple + green gram and oats. The highest ecosystem carbon was stored in the treatment involving the
tree crop combination of apple + rajmash and oats (64.18 t ha ) and is around 1.5 to 2 times higher than
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agriculture based system. The total ecosystem carbon in apple based land use system ranged between 53.23
and 64.18 t ha . The outcomes of this study are in accordance with the findings of Yadav et al., (2017) who
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recorded maximum crop biomass in wheat as a pure crop system (5.84 t ha ) followed by pecan nut + wheat
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system (5.75 t ha ) and higher biomass of lentil in pure lentil system (2.75 t ha ) followed by pecan nut +
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lentil system (2.52 t ha ) in mid hills of Indian Himalayas. They saw that this decrease was because of the
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competition for the basic resources between trees and crops in agroforestry system. Sharma et al., (2017)
while studying mango based agroforestry and mono-cropping system under rainfed condition of West Bengal,
also reported highest production in mango based agroforestry system when contrasted with maize mono-
cropping. The overall total biomass reported in the present study is less than the mean values reported by
Rajput et al., (2017) for agro-horticulture system (103.3Mg ha ) and agriculture (20.28Mg ha ). Yadav et al.,
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(2017) also recorded maximum biomass (56.5 t ha ) in wheat + pecan nut system and minimum (2.75 t ha )
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in pure lentil production system in mid hills of Indian Himalaya. This was possibly because of young age of
apple trees coupled with the drier climatic conditions of the study site. In the present study, the total carbon
densities reported are at par with the values reported by Chisanga et al., (2018) for dry temperate region of
north western Himalaya who reported four times more carbon storage potential of fruit-based systems than
agriculture land use system which is clearly evident from the present study as well. Chisanga et al., (2018)
for dry temperate north western Himalayas and Yadav et al., (2017) for Indian Himalayas reported highest
carbon densities in fruit based land use system and lowest in agriculture with the values of 14.59t ha ; 3.34t
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ha and 17.0 Mg C ha ; 4.8 Mg C ha respectively and both are nearly neck to neck with estimations of the
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current investigation (18.42 t ha and 4.73 t ha respectively). Comparable outcomes were reported by Iqbal
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et al., (2020) for apple orchards of temperate zone of Kashmir Himalaya, who reported a soil carbon stock of
37.20 Mg ha . The apple based agroforestry system in Himalayas can go a long way in augmenting the overall
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production and productivity by satisfying the rural livelihoods besides acting as effective carbon sink through
carbon stockpiling and sequestration.
Conclusion

The outcome of the present study can be significant in selecting different crop combinations for fruit
based land use systems, future carbon studies, climate change contemplates, soil carbon stock estimation and
land use planning along the lines of REDD + activities in other fragile Himalayan ecosystems.

References
Bijalwan, A. 2012. Structure, composition and diversity of horticulture trees and agricultural crops productivity
under traditional agri-horticulture system in mid hill situation of Garhwal Himalaya, India. American
Journal of Plant Sciences 3:480-488.

140 Institute of Animal Nutrition, Centre for Animal Production Studies, TANUVAS
National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development