Land quality and soil organic carbon stocks consequent to land use change from natural for

K. S. Karthika of the Coffee Research Institute assessed soil quality changes after converting natural forests to coffee plantations in the Western Ghats of India. The study analyzed 60 sites across Chikmagalur, Wayanad, and Idukki districts, comparing soil properties like organic carbon, pH, and nutrient availability. It reports soil organic carbon stocks ranging from 14.32 to 19.28 kg m-2 in coffee systems.

Use Cases

• Modeling soil organic carbon sequestration based on land-use change from forest to plantation.
• Assessing the impact of agricultural management practices on soil nutrient levels like N, P, Ca, Mg, S, Zn, and Cu.
• Comparing land quality indicators such as clay content, pH, and CEC between natural and managed ecosystems.
• Evaluating restoration potential in tropical agroforestry systems based on soil property changes.

Strengths

• Data is based on 60 sampled sites, providing a multi-location comparison.
• Study compares six detailed pedon profiles across three districts in the Western Ghats.
• Analysis includes a range of specific soil properties: organic carbon stocks, clay content, pH, exchangeable bases, CEC, and available nutrients.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Last update date is unknown; freshness unverified.

Provenance

Source

K. S. Karthika, Coffee Research Institute

Collection Method

Field study assessing soil physical and chemical properties at 60 sites (46 coffee plantations, 14 adjacent forests).

Geography

Chikmagalur district (Karnataka), Wayanad and Idukki districts (Kerala) in the Western Ghats, South India.