Evaluating the relationship between Atriplex halimus density with soil carbon sequestration (case study: semi-arid rangeland of Incheborun, Golestan Province)

Understanding the relationship between soil and plant is essential for reclamation of degraded lands. In order to investigate the relationship between Atriplex halimus density with carbon sequestration the rangeland of Incheborun was studied. Soil samples were collected randomly by Auger in the depth of 0-30 cm of the soil profile in three different plant densities (<200، 200-400 and >400 stand per hectare) with 30 replications. The data were subjected to ANOVA using statistical software SPSS 21. 0. Means were separated by T-test at P≤0. 5. The results of this research showed that the soil organic carbon have ranging from 0. 48 to 0. 64 (with an average of 0. 56%) in Atriplex plantation areas، while the organic carbon have ranging from 0. 03 to 0. 12 (with an average of 0. 078%) in the control region. Therefore، plantation measures caused significant difference in soil organic carbon contents per unit area in Atriplex plantation areas as compared to that observed in the control area. Sequestered carbon in per unit is 26. 27، 27. 85 and 30. 66 ton/ha respectively for low، medium and high Atriplex density areas. The results indicated that the rate of organic carbon as well as soil carbon sequestration increased with plant density. There were no significant difference among sequestered carbon and soil organic carbon values under those three different levels of densities، while significant difference were observed between three plantation areas and control area.