Carbon Storage in Soils: A Case Study of Cocoa Agroforestry in Idanre Forest Reserve, Ondo State, Nigeria

Akinbode O. A^1, , Oke D. O.² and Akinbi O. J.³

¹Department of Forestry Technology, Federal College of Agriculture, Akure, Nigeria

²Department of Forestry and Wood Technology, Federal University of Technology, Akure, Nigeria

³Forestry Research Institute of Nigeria, PMB 5054, Ibadan, Nigeria

Cite this paper:
Akinbode O. A, Oke D. O. and Akinbi O. J.. Carbon Storage in Soils: A Case Study of Cocoa Agroforestry in Idanre Forest Reserve, Ondo State, Nigeria. Applied Ecology and Forestry Science. 2022; 5(1):9-13. doi: 10.12691/aefs-5-1-2

Abstract

This study investigated the effects of three land use management systems on the status of total and mineral-associated and particulate soil organic carbon content. The study was carried out in selected cocoa farms established within Idanre Forest Reserve, Ondo State, Nigeria. Based on the number of non-cocoa trees (shade trees) per unit area, the farms were classified into dense cocoa agroforest, sparse cocoa agroforest, and pure cocoa plantation. 3 sample plots of 25m x 25m were mapped out alternate to each other, and soil samples were collected at 5 different points along the diagonal of each plot at depths 0-15cm, 15-30cm and 30-45cm using a 3cm diameter soil auger. The results shows that surface soil (0-15cm) total organic carbon (TOC) content was highest under the sparse cocoa agroforest (5.64%) and lowest in the dense cocoa agroforest (2.86%). It was noted that sparse cocoa agroforest had potential for increasing soil organic carbon of an appreciable concentration due to the presence of few large non-cocoa trees which contributed immensely to the soil carbon stock especially through litter fall. The decreasing order for the % TOC is given as Sparse cocoa agroforest > pure cocoa plantation > dense cocoa agroforest. The result of the analysis shows a significant difference (P<0.05) in the %Particulate organic carbon (POC) and %Mineral-associated organic carbon (MOC) stored in the soil by the different land use management systems and at the different depths considered. Carbon content of MOC were higher than the POC in all land use management systems. The study concluded that soil organic carbon stored decreased with increasing soil depth across land use and sparse cocoa agroforestry with few large trees has the potentials of storing organic carbon of appreciable concentration.

Keywords:
land use cocoa agroforestry carbon fraction mineral-associated particulate organic carbon Nigeria

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