STM Article Repository

Garhwal Himalaya is part of the Himalayan biodiversity hotspot and represents the western Himalayan landscape of the Indian Himalayas. The aim of the present investigation was to analyze soil properties in different forest areas across different altitudes of the Garhwal Himalayas, i.e., Quercus leucotrichophora Forest (>1900 m), Anogessious latifolia Forest (1300 m), Mixed Forest (900 m), and Shrub-dominated Forest (600 m). Physical and chemical properties of the soil were estimated using all the standard procedures, such as the Walkley-Black method for SOC and the Kjeldahl method for Nitrogen, in the department laboratory of HNB Garhwal University. The results of this study revealed that the high-altitude temperate Quercus luecotrichophora Forest has dominated in all soil properties and has greater potential to store soil organic carbon stock and Nitrogen (29.64 ± 3.48 t ha-1) (Nitrogen 254.22 ± 27.16 kg ha-1) than sub-tropical Anogeissus latifolia Dominated Forest, Mixed Forest, and Shrub Dominated Forest with SOC stock values of 18.34 ± 2.90, 14.52 ± 2.27, and 10.74 ± 1.57 t ha-1 and Nitrogen values of 205.47±7.10, 197.07±1.50, 193.79±8.15.