Soil Organic Carbon Distribution in a Humid Tropical Plain of Cameroon: Interrelationships with Soil Properties

Soil organic carbon (SOC) determination is very important in the assessment of agronomic potential of a soil. The objective of this study was to determine SOC contents and stock distribution with depth in relation to selected soil properties. Five types of soils, namely, Mollic Endoaquents, Oxyaquic...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Georges Kogge Kome, Roger Kogge Enang, Bernard Palmer Kfuban Yerima
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2021-01-01
Series:Applied and Environmental Soil Science
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2021/6052513
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1849395235652632576
author Georges Kogge Kome
Roger Kogge Enang
Bernard Palmer Kfuban Yerima
author_facet Georges Kogge Kome
Roger Kogge Enang
Bernard Palmer Kfuban Yerima
author_sort Georges Kogge Kome
collection DOAJ
description Soil organic carbon (SOC) determination is very important in the assessment of agronomic potential of a soil. The objective of this study was to determine SOC contents and stock distribution with depth in relation to selected soil properties. Five types of soils, namely, Mollic Endoaquents, Oxyaquic Paleudalfs, Oxyaquic Udifluvents, and Mollic Udifluvents from a humid tropical plain and Typic Eutrudepts from an adjacent foot slope, were studied. The soils have all developed from fluvial sediments. Morphological and physicochemical characteristics of the soils were obtained using standard methods. Soil texture varied across the different sites and within soil profiles with textural classes of genetic horizons ranging from sandy loam to heavy clay. The soils are generally young soils under development as indicated by their high silt/clay ratios which ranged between 0.23 and 2.45. All the soils were generally acidic with pH-H2O values ranging from 4.5 to 6.2. Exchangeable H+ and Al3+ ranged from 0.5 to 2.3 and 0.2 to 3.3 cmolckg−1, respectively. SOC contents are generally higher in surface horizons and decrease with depth. In general, SOC correlated significantly with bulk density (BD) (r = −0.648, p<0.01), water holding capacity (r = 0.589, p<0.01), exchangeable Al3+ (r = 0.707, p<0.01), and exchangeable H+ (r = 0.456, p<0.05). The correlation between SOC and exchangeable Al3+ was strongest in the Mollic Endoaquents (r = 0.931, p<0.01). SOC contents correlated significantly with Munsell soil color attributes, explaining between 40 and 57% of SOC variation. Total SOC stocks at a depth of 100 cm varied between 260.1 and 363.5 t·ha−1, and the variation in SOC stocks across a profile appears to be controlled by genetic horizon depth, while land use type influences SOC stock variations across genetic surface horizons.
format Article
id doaj-art-ada17e23ceee4533b07db225052a052e
institution Kabale University
issn 1687-7667
1687-7675
language English
publishDate 2021-01-01
publisher Wiley
record_format Article
series Applied and Environmental Soil Science
spelling doaj-art-ada17e23ceee4533b07db225052a052e2025-08-20T03:39:41ZengWileyApplied and Environmental Soil Science1687-76671687-76752021-01-01202110.1155/2021/60525136052513Soil Organic Carbon Distribution in a Humid Tropical Plain of Cameroon: Interrelationships with Soil PropertiesGeorges Kogge Kome0Roger Kogge Enang1Bernard Palmer Kfuban Yerima2Department of Soil Science, Faculty of Agronomy and Agricultural Sciences (FASA), University of Dschang, P.O. Box 222, Dschang, CameroonDepartment of Soil Science, Faculty of Agronomy and Agricultural Sciences (FASA), University of Dschang, P.O. Box 222, Dschang, CameroonDepartment of Soil Science, Faculty of Agronomy and Agricultural Sciences (FASA), University of Dschang, P.O. Box 222, Dschang, CameroonSoil organic carbon (SOC) determination is very important in the assessment of agronomic potential of a soil. The objective of this study was to determine SOC contents and stock distribution with depth in relation to selected soil properties. Five types of soils, namely, Mollic Endoaquents, Oxyaquic Paleudalfs, Oxyaquic Udifluvents, and Mollic Udifluvents from a humid tropical plain and Typic Eutrudepts from an adjacent foot slope, were studied. The soils have all developed from fluvial sediments. Morphological and physicochemical characteristics of the soils were obtained using standard methods. Soil texture varied across the different sites and within soil profiles with textural classes of genetic horizons ranging from sandy loam to heavy clay. The soils are generally young soils under development as indicated by their high silt/clay ratios which ranged between 0.23 and 2.45. All the soils were generally acidic with pH-H2O values ranging from 4.5 to 6.2. Exchangeable H+ and Al3+ ranged from 0.5 to 2.3 and 0.2 to 3.3 cmolckg−1, respectively. SOC contents are generally higher in surface horizons and decrease with depth. In general, SOC correlated significantly with bulk density (BD) (r = −0.648, p<0.01), water holding capacity (r = 0.589, p<0.01), exchangeable Al3+ (r = 0.707, p<0.01), and exchangeable H+ (r = 0.456, p<0.05). The correlation between SOC and exchangeable Al3+ was strongest in the Mollic Endoaquents (r = 0.931, p<0.01). SOC contents correlated significantly with Munsell soil color attributes, explaining between 40 and 57% of SOC variation. Total SOC stocks at a depth of 100 cm varied between 260.1 and 363.5 t·ha−1, and the variation in SOC stocks across a profile appears to be controlled by genetic horizon depth, while land use type influences SOC stock variations across genetic surface horizons.http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2021/6052513
spellingShingle Georges Kogge Kome
Roger Kogge Enang
Bernard Palmer Kfuban Yerima
Soil Organic Carbon Distribution in a Humid Tropical Plain of Cameroon: Interrelationships with Soil Properties
Applied and Environmental Soil Science
title Soil Organic Carbon Distribution in a Humid Tropical Plain of Cameroon: Interrelationships with Soil Properties
title_full Soil Organic Carbon Distribution in a Humid Tropical Plain of Cameroon: Interrelationships with Soil Properties
title_fullStr Soil Organic Carbon Distribution in a Humid Tropical Plain of Cameroon: Interrelationships with Soil Properties
title_full_unstemmed Soil Organic Carbon Distribution in a Humid Tropical Plain of Cameroon: Interrelationships with Soil Properties
title_short Soil Organic Carbon Distribution in a Humid Tropical Plain of Cameroon: Interrelationships with Soil Properties
title_sort soil organic carbon distribution in a humid tropical plain of cameroon interrelationships with soil properties
url http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2021/6052513
work_keys_str_mv AT georgeskoggekome soilorganiccarbondistributioninahumidtropicalplainofcamerooninterrelationshipswithsoilproperties
AT rogerkoggeenang soilorganiccarbondistributioninahumidtropicalplainofcamerooninterrelationshipswithsoilproperties
AT bernardpalmerkfubanyerima soilorganiccarbondistributioninahumidtropicalplainofcamerooninterrelationshipswithsoilproperties