Soil organic carbon stock estimation in range lands of Kumrat Dir Kohistan KPK Pakistan

The present study was carried out in two grass land of Kumrat Dir Kohistan, North Hindukush regions of KPK Pakistan. Locally these two grass land are known as Roshi Dab and Bothore Dab. The area of these two Dabs is about 400 hectare. The elevation of these two Dabs ranges from 7665 feet to 7954 feet while the geographic location of the study site was N 35° 33.249’ and E 72° 12.258’. Stratified random sampling method was used for data collection. 18 soil samples were taken with the depth of 0-15 cm and 16-30 cm. The average soil pH was 5.3. The mean soil bulk density was 1.107 -g/cm3. In present study it was found that the undisturbed range land stored maximum amount of soil carbon (32.69 tons hac-1) as compare to range land near to the agriculture land (29.77 tons hac-1) Similarly the rangeland near to forest land stored 35.62 t ha-1 carbon, also stored more carbon as compare to range land near to agriculture land 29.77 t ha-1. The results of the present study confirmed that conversion of range land into agriculture land reduced the soil carbon in the study area.   Key words: Carbon stocks, climate change, soil bulk density, range lands, forestry.