Influence Of Land Use Land Cover Classes On Carbon Sequestration In Soils Of Sirsi And Siddapur Taluka Of Uttara Kannada District, India

The study was conducted in Sirsi and Siddapur talukas (140 13' 0"N to 140 50' 0"N Latitude and 740 34' 0"E to 750 3' 30"E Longitude) of Uttar Kannada district to assess the influence of land use land cover on carbon sequestration in soil. The IRS P6 LISS-III imageries was used for land use land cover classes using ERDAS software with ground truth data. The land use classes viz., Dense forest, Sparse forest, Horticulture plantation, Agriculture and Barren-land were identified. The soil samples at one meter depth in all land use classes were collected and soil organic carbon (SOC) was estimated. The result indicated that the SOC in soils of different land use classes are significantly different. The total SOC in Sirsi taluka was 15.47 million tonne and that of Siddapur was 10.52 million tonne. The average SOC in Sirsi and Siddapur soil was 108.82 t/ha and 102.63 t/ha respectively. The Carbon mitigation potential in soils of dense forest was 2.78 times more in Sirsi and 2.86 times more in Siddapur taluka as compared to Agriculture soil followed by horticulture plantation in both taluka.