Plant Archives Volume 20 No. 2, 2020 pp. 4251-4260 e-ISSN:2581-6063 (online), ISSN:0972-5210 SOIL CARBON STOCK AND NUTRIENT STUDY IN DIFFERENT AGROFORESTRY SYSTEMS AT KINNAUR DISTRICT, HIMACHAL PRADESH Anand Salve 1 * and D.R. Bhardwaj 2 1* Department of Agriculture, Shri Vashnav Vidhyapeeth Vishwavidhalaya Indore (M.P.), India. 2 Department of Silviculture and agroforestry, Dr. Y.S. Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni, Solan (H.P.), India. Abstract The present study was undertaken at Kinnaur district of Himachal Pradesh. The study focused on Soil carbon stock and nutrient analysis under three different agroforestry systems viz, Agri-horticulture system AH, Agrisilviculture system AS and Agrihortisilviculture system AHS of North-Western Himalayas during the year of 2014-15. The laboratory tests of soil showed that the organic carbon, extractable phosphorus, calcium and magnesium decreased with an increase in soil depth. Under the physical properties, the reverse trend was observed for bulk density. Bulk density 1.34 g cm 3 was higher in the AS system. Maximum bulk density 1.47 g cm 3 was recorded at 15-30 cm depth whereas minimum bulk density 1.20 g cm 3 observed at 0-15 cm depth. Particle density 2.49 g cm 3 was significantly higher in the agrihorticulture system. The pore space percent 46.99% was significantly higher in the agrisilviculture system while the pore space percent 48.90% was significantly higher at surface soil. Particle density 2.48 g cm 3 was significantly higher at 0-15 cm depth. Chemical parameters were found decreasing with increasing soil depth. Organic carbon 1.26% was significantly higher in the agrihortisilviculture system. Organic carbon 1.26% was significantly higher at 0-15 cm depth in high hills temperate dry and cold C 2 climatic conditions. Similarly exchangeable Ca 5.52 mg/100g was significantly higher in the AHS system. Exchangeable calcium 6.03 mg/100g was significantly higher at 0-15cm depth. Most of the soil samples were alkaline property. Maximum soil pH 8.21 was recorded in high hills temperate dry and cold C 2 climatic conditions which significantly differed with C 1 climatic condition. The deep soil layer 15-30 cm showed maximum pH. N (0.25%), P (0.97 mg/100g) and K (1.69 mg/100g) was significantly higher at upper (0- 15 cm) layer of soil. Therefore in the present study, an attempt was made to compare the soil Physico-chemical properties under two different climatic conditions dry temperate high hills C 1 and High hills temperate dry and cold C 2 climatic conditions and their effect on agroforestry systems. Result reveals that C density was higher in 58.75 t ha -1 AHS system followed by AH system 56.34 t ha -1 and AS system 52.04 t ha -1 . Carbon density was maximum in C 1 climatic condition with comparison to C 2 climatic condition. Key words: Soil Physico-Chemical Properties: Climatic conditions; Agroforestry systems. Introduction The Kinnaur district is one of the twelve administrative districts of Himachal Pradesh. The district came into existence on 1 st May, 1960 (DDMA, 2012). Himachal Pradesh is one of the ideal locations for apple cultivation, covering the districts of Shimla, Siramour, Kullu, Mandi, Chamba and Kinnaur considering the vast production of apple orchards. The much-awaited delicious variety of apples from Himachal Pradesh’s Kalpa (Kinnaur district) where horticulture is considered as a major livelihood source, most of all the households are involved in horticulture activity. The major horticulture produces in this area is apple (Bera, 2015). The farmers of Kinnaur district live in a steep slope area where site quality factors always play a vital role in productivity. Under this situation, the farmer has lean-to agroforestry systems. Agroforestry is a collective name for land-use systems and technologies where woody perennials (trees, shrubs, palms, bamboos, etc.) are deliberately used on the same land-management units as crops and/or animals, in some form of spatial arrangement or temporal sequence. In agroforestry systems, there are both *Author for correspondence : E-mail: slaveanand509@gmail.com