Soil Organic Carbon Stocks Under Different Agroforestry Systems of North-Eastern Regions of India

Increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases, especially carbon dioxide, and exploring ways and means to mitigate them is a major challenge to the global community. Exploring terrestrial sinks of carbon is suggested as one of the options, and in this context agroforestry systems, with a mix of trees and crop plants, offer a good solution. India’s North-Eastern Hill region has a rich tradition of agroforestry systems and is estimated to store between 85.34 and 121.87 Mg C ha−1. However, stability of the stored soil carbon is a function of both quality of inputs and their interaction with soil components. Thus, agroforestry systems in the North-Eastern region spanning a wide range of climatic conditions ranging from alpine to tropical, rainfall pattern, vegetation, topography, land use, ethnicity, and cultural diversity vary in their carbon accumulation and sequestration potentials. Here, in this chapter we have attempted to review and synthesize the current knowledge on soil organic carbon sequestration status and processes in the agroforestry systems of North-Eastern Hill region.