Land use of the sub-Himalayan region is not that intensive like the intensively land-managed region of Punjab, India. Land resources of the sub-Himalayas must be managed effectively for sustainable development by preparing carbon inventories and data banks. Such macro-level studies have not been conducted yet in the present study area, and thus were conducted to suggest sustainable land use management options. To achieve the present study’s desired goal, 33 tree-based land uses were identified from forested and agricultural landscapes of the sub-humid tropical region of West Bengal, India. Stratified random nested quadrat sampling was adopted for the study. The SOC, biomass, and carbon accumulation significantly differed. Mixed forests had the highest soil primary nutrients and carbon stock. Positive correlations were observed between SOC, total standing biomass, litter production, and ecosystem carbon. The sequence of land uses based on carbon stock was mixed-species forest > sole tree species stands in a forest landscape > tea plantations > homegardens. This baseline information can be used for developing prediction models for future interventions towards sustainable land management. The study, however, could not estimate the carbon fluxes in and out of the systems due to the absence of detailed land use land-cover databases.

Elaeocarpus ganitrus Roxb. commonly identified as ‘rudraksha’, belonging to Elaeocarpaceae possess a great religious, spiritual and materialistic significance which is placed under the threatened category in the tropical wet evergreen forests of North East India. Because of its over-exploitation, poor germination, low viability rate and hard seed coat, an attempt has been done for mass production of planting materials through cuttings and air layering’s. Cuttings trials were conducted during three different periods, mid - March, mid – July and mid – November by using Indol butyric acid and Napthalene acetic acid of 1000, 2000, 4000, 6000 ppm where air layering’s were done during mid - May by treating IBA and NAA solution of 500, 1000 and 2000 ppm in combination with para-hydroxybenzoic acid of 2000 ppm as synergist. Application of IBA and NAA of different concentration did not encourage the growth in the cuttings in all three periods. Air layering’s treated with NAA 1000 ppm+2000ppm para- hydroxy benzoic acid and IBA 500 ppm +2000ppm para- hydroxy benzoic acid resulted the highest and same value of callusing and rooting percent (70 and 66.67%), respectively while minimum callusing and rooting percentage (56.67 and 51.67%) was recorded in control. The present study focused on the mass production of planting materials in shorter duration with a reasonable cost for enhancing production as well as socio-economic conditions.

Land resources have been under tremendous anthropogenic pressure with the consequence of their degradation. It is therefore necessary that the land resources must be managed effectively for sustainable development. Different from the developed countries, carbon inventories and data bank to monitor carbon sequestration potential of different ecosystems are unavailable in India. Micro-level studies are essential for sustainable land use management for a land scarce nation like India. To achieve the desirable goal of the present study, a total of 33 tree-based land uses were identified from forested and agricultural landscapes. Of these total land uses, five were in forest landscapes and rest in agricultural landscapes categorized into forest tree plantations (8 land uses), agroforestry (nine land uses), commercial crop plantations (six land uses) and fruit orchards (five land uses). A stratified random nested quadrate sampling method was adopted for vegetation analysis of the different land uses. The SOC, biomass and carbon accumulation in the tree-based land uses were significantly different from each other. Mixed forest soil had the highest amount of SOC, primary nutrients, standing biomass carbon, and ecosystem carbon. Positive correlations were observed between SOC, total standing biomass, litter production, and ecosystem carbon. The sequence of best tree based land uses in terms of total SOC (up to 60 cm depth), total plant biomass, total plant biomass carbon and ecosystem carbon was mixed species forest (126.67, 781.21, 390.61 and 517.27) > sole tree species stands in forest landscape (109.71, 192.56, 96.28 and 205.98) > tea plantations (103.19, 77.07, 38.54 and 141.74) > homegardens (90.34, 97.38, 48.69 and 139.02) > mixed plantation of Anthocephalus cadamba + Swietenia macrophylla (60.07, 111.86, 55.93 and 116.02) > Swietenia macrophylla based agroforestry (62.49, 83.82, 41.91 and 104.40) > mixed plantation of Tectona grandis + Milvus migrans (60.0, 85.97, 42.99 and 102.90). Similarly, the order of the major land uses was forest > commercial crop plantation > forest tree plantations > agroforestry > fruit orchards. The overall average ecosystem carbon accumulation in forests was 3.24 times more than the land uses in agricultural landscapes. The ecosystem carbon accumulation in the tree-based land uses in both forest and agricultural landscape was highly variable and was significantly different from each other. Land use conversion from forest to agriculture can reduce more than half of the carbon stock, but converting into homegardens, tree plantations or agroforestry enhanced carbon storage of the land use systems. The present findings can be used as baseline information for developing prediction models for probable effects of different land use, future intervention and sustainable management of land use systems.