3.2 Total carbon storage pools and their distribution
Ecosystem C storage is summarized in Table 5. Different components of the ecosystem differed considerably among themselves in terms of the amount of C stored, the soil pool being the largest (72.08%–96.53% of the total ecosystem C pool), followed, in that order, by the tree pool (0%–25.99%), the herb pool (1.37%–2.70%), and the standing litter pool (0.18–0.78%). Carbon storage in all the pools was significantly lower in the control than that in any other treatment (SNK post hoc tests: P>0.05, MS=4324.15, F=3077.85, df = 3). The treatments differed significantly among themselves in the amounts of stored C in all the pools except that the standing litter pool (SNK post hoc tests: P>0.05, MS=0.0004, F=0.706, df = 2), in which the values were comparable across the three treatments.
The total ecosystem C pool was 104.29 t/ha in FG, 92.24 t/ha in UG, 102.96 t/ha in MG, and 24.48 t/ha in CK (Fig. 7). Compared to that in CK, ecosystem C storage increased significantly over time in all the treatments (SNK post hoc tests: P>0.05, MS=4324.15, F=3077.85, df=3), the pool in FG being the largest.