Uddin, Md. Jashim, Hooda, P. and Mohiuddin, A.S.M. (2017) Impact of land use dynamics on soil organic carbon in the agricultural soils of Bangladesh. In: 2nd Erosion modelling workshop, Asia-EC JRC Joint Conference 2017; 04 - 07 Dec 2017, Seoul, South Korea.

Abstract

In Bangladesh, high population pressure (more than 160 million) has forced the production of two, three or more crops a year on the same land, resulting in a very short fallow period. This short fallow period leaves little or no time for the land to regain all its natural attributes, which are essential for its biophysical conditions. Such intensive land use could cause widespread land degradation due to loss of soil organic carbon (SOC) and its associated effects of nutrient mining. Considering the above, 190 soil samples were collected from the Brahmaputra and the Ganges alluviums by revisiting the sites sampled previously (1989-92) to quantify the SOC loss or gain. SOC datasets of current soil samples (2012) and the historic data sets (1989-92) revealed that SOC declined across the study sites as well as across the alluviums. Loss of SOC is significant in the highlands (HL) and medium highlands (MHL) sites but its loss is insignificant in the medium lowland (MLL) and lowland (LL) sites. The reason for such losses of SOC in the HL and MHL sites are at least partly due to intensive cropping with little addition of crop residues and even improper management. So, policies based on recommended management practices (RMPs) should be formulated for SOC sink and sequestration in the alluvial soils of Bangladesh.

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