The Effect of Range Management on Soil Carbon Content in Degraded Soil

Abstract

Degradation of soil and plant vegetation is a serious problem in grasslands at Central Antolian Region of Turkey. Soils and plant vegetation in this region are highly degraded due to uncontrolled heavy grazing. Measures should be taken to restore the degraded grasslands to effectively prevent desertification in this region. This study was conducted to evaluate the impacts of treatments; fertilized + planted + protected from grazing (A), Fertilized + protected from grazing (B), protected from grazing (C), and grazed (D) on soil organic carbon (SOC), inorganic carbon (IOC) and total carbon (TOC) content at four natural parcels between 2004-2008 in Sivas, Turkey. Results showed that the applications did not cause a significant difference in topsoil SOC, IOC and TOC values, but significant differences were observed in subsoil (p < 0.001). The highest TOC content was found in degraded grassland and the SOC value was found lower in planted, fertilized and protected parcel than open grazed parcel. Hence, the increasing of SOC in degreaded lands may take longer time than the expected time in arid climate.

Keywords

• Grassland management
• soil organic carbon
• inorganic carbon
• total carbon
• desertification.

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