This presentation was presented during the 3 Parallel session on Theme 1, Monitoring, mapping, measuring, reporting and verification (MRV) of SOC, of the Global Symposium on Soil Organic Carbon that took place in Rome 21-23 March 2017. The presentation was made by Mr. K. Suresh Chaudhari, from ICAR - India, in FAO Hq, Rome

1. Assessment, Monitoring and Managing
Soil Organic Carbon (SOC)
for
Climate Change Mitigation and
Adaptation : An Indian Perspective
SK Chaudhari and PP Biswas
Indian Council of Agricultural Research,
New Delhi-110 012, India

2. Why SOC ?
 It is an unique indicator of soil health & quality because it
influences :
• Soil physical properties like bulk density, aggregate
stability and moisture retention,
• Soil chemical properties like nutrient availability,
exchange capacity, reaction with metals & contaminants
and its capacity to act as proton buffer.
• Soil biological attributes namely mineralization,
microbial biomass and enzyme activities.
 SOC- the main source of energy to soil biota which
regulate dynamics of SOM, soil carbon sequestration and
greenhouse gas emission.

3. SOC and Agricultural Productivity
• Soils with relatively higher organic matter content are better
in performing functions that are critical for crop production
and environmental conservation.
• An increase of SOC stock by 1 Mg C ha-1 in the root zone can
raise the crop yield (kg ha-1 ) by
 Wheat - 15-33
 Rice- 160
 Pearl millet - 170
 Finger millet -101
 Sorghum – 90
 Groundnut – 13
 Soybean -145
 Lentil -18

4. Methodology (Direct Approach)
• Collection of geo-referenced soil samples and
analyzing SOC by standard analytical
technique.
• Multiplying SOC content (g/g), bulk density
(mg/m3) and thickness of horizon (m) to obtain
size of total SOC stock.
• The total SOC content determined by this
process is multiplied by the area of the
physiographic unit to work out the total SOC
stock in Pg.

5. SOC stock in different physiographic
regions of India
SOC stock (Pg)
Soil depth (cm)
Sym
bol
Physiograph
ic regions
0–30 0–150 Area (m ha)
1 Northern
Mountains
7.89 (39)1 18.31 55.3 (17)2
2 The Great
Plains
3.281 (18) 10.53 72.4 (22)
3 Peninsular
India
3.64 (17) 13.34 54.7 (17)
4 Peninsular
Plateau
3.62 (17) 10.11 105.7 (32)
5 Coastal
Plains &
Islands
2.24 (11) 10.90 40.9 (12)
Total 20.99(100) 63.19
Figures in parentheses indicate per cent of total SOC stock

6. Methodology (Indirect Approach)
• Use of remotely-sensed hyper-spectral satellite data
(imaging spectrometry) for prediction of SOC.
• The spectral information are correlated to referenced
ground truth SOC database using a multivariate
calibration model to predict the SOC values at
locations.
• Using this method, first spatially explicit 250m map
of soil organic carbon stock of India was generated
through Random forest(RF) based digital soil
mapping technique.
• For modeling with RF algorithm, about 898 soil
profile observations were used, while the rest of 300
were used for validation.

7. Digital mapping of SOC status in India

8. Government Initiatives
 Recently, GOI has launched a National Mission to
provide Soil Health Card to every farmers (total 14
crores land holdings).
 The card consists of 15 soil parameters including SOC.
 The geo-referenced surface soil sample (0-30 cm) at 2.5
and 10 km grid in irrigated and rainfed areas
respectively will be collected and analyzed by direct
method once in every two years interval.
 This will ensure assessment, mapping, monitoring of
SOC in arable land at village level.
 The map is expected by December 2017.

9. Way Forward
• In situ soil carbon analytical methods like visible
and near-infrared defuse reflectance
spectroscopy (VisNIR DRS) has been proven
valuable with a R2 value of 0.81.
• Reflectance signals are produced in the
wavelength range from 400 to 2500 nm by
vibrations in bonds between C, N, H, O, P, and S
atoms.
• It is a physical non-destructive, rapid,
reproducible and inexpensive tool for developing
soil spectral libraries, rapid characterization of
SOC and soil quality monitoring.

10. THANK YOU
Manage Soil Organic Carbon
Through
Conservation Agriculture
&
Climate Resilient Agriculture Practices

11. SOC and Soil Biota
• SOC is the main source of energy to soil biota.
• Soil biota act as the primary driving agents of :
Nutrient cycling,
Enhancing the amount and efficiency of nutrient acquisition
by the vegetation
Regulating the dynamics of SOM, soil carbon sequestration
and greenhouse gas emission
Modifying soil physical structure and water regimes
Enhancing plant health.
• The value of "ecosystem services" provided each year by soil
biota in agricultural systems worldwide is over US$ 1,542 billion
(FAO 2002). Nearly 40-48 million tons N per year is biologically
fixed in agricultural crops compared to 83 million tons N per
year fixed industrially for the production of fertiliser.