J. Bio. & Env. Sci. 2015 213 | Rizwan et al. RESEARCH PAPER OPEN ACCESS Dissimilar improvement of soil organic carbon pools with different manures in a subtropical dryland Muhammad Rizwan 1 , Shahzada Sohail Ijaz 1* , Qaiser Hussain 1 , Azeem Khalid 3 ,Kashif Bashir 3 , Asma Hassan 1 1 Department of Soil Science & SWC, PMAS-Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi, Pakistan 2 Department of Environmental Sciences, PMAS-Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi, Pakistan 3 Soil and Water Conservation Research Station Sohawa, SAWCRI, Chakwal, Pakistan Key words: Soil organic carbon, HCl insoluble organic carbon, Poultry litter, Municipal solid waste, Farm yard manure. Article published on March 17, 2015 Abstract The present field study was conducted to investigate the influence of different organic manures on pools of soil organic carbon during 2011 to 2013 at two locations (Rawalpindi and Chakwal sites) in subtropical dryland of Pothwar, Pakistan. Organic manures applied were: municipal solid waste, farm yard manure and poultry litter at the concentrations of 0.25%, 0.50% and 1% of soil organic carbon. The highest total soil organic carbon content of 22.2 Mg ha -1 and HCl insoluble carbon pool of 19.9 Mg ha -1 was achieved with the application of municipal solid waste compost. Particulate organic carbon was highest (3.9 Mg ha -1 ) with farmyard manure while microbial biomass carbon and mineralizable organic carbon pools differed non-significantly. The present study reveals dissimilar improvement of SOC pools under different organic manures. Therefore farm yard manure should be preferred for short term benefits while MSW compost should be used for rapid carbon sequestration. *Corresponding Author: Shahzada Sohail Ijaz  shahzadasohail@gmail.com Journal of Biodiversity and Environmental Sciences (JBES) ISSN: 2220-6663 (Print), 2222-3045 (Online) http://www.innspub.net Vol. 6, No. 3, p. 213-218, 2015