Growth Characteristics and Carbon Stock Potential in Horti-Agriculture System under Degraded Land Conditions of Kashmir Himalaya

The present study was carried out with the aim to estimate the growth characteristics and carbon stock potential of different studied agroforestry systems under different crop combination. The experiment was laid out in a randomized block design with three replications comprising eight treatments. Two intercrops namely, rajmash and moong were intercropped with 4-year-old orchard of peach and apricot planted at spacing of 4m x 4m and 3m x 3m respectively. The results revealed that both rajmash and moong pulses thrived well under the fruit-based agroforestry systems and demonstrated successful cultivation as intercrops with fruit trees. However, among the intercrops tested, rajmash performed better. The growth and yield parameters of the fruit trees were observed to be better in the agroforestry system than in the control (sole cropping) conditions. The maximum amount of tree carbon density was recorded in agro-forestry system than control (only fruit trees). It was found that the treatment, T3 (Apricot + Rajmash) recorded significantly highest value (8.71 t ha-1) of the tree carbon density confined to (5.84 t ha-1) for T6 control (only Peach). Hence these systems are fruitful in terms of food production, soil improvement and carbon stock and can be replicated in other parts of Himalaya.