Plant roots and carbon sequestration

Rajeew Kumar*, Sharad Pandey and Apurv Pandey Carbon management is a serious concern confronting the world today. A number of summits have been organized on this subject ranging from the Stockholm to Kyoto protocol. The current level of carbon in the atmosphere is about 375 ppm. It is estimated that if the carbon increases in the atmo-sphere at the present rate and no positive efforts are pursued, the level of carbon in the atmosphere would go up to 800–1000 ppm by the end of current century, which may create havoc for all living creatures on earth. Soil may be an important sink for the carbon storage in the form of soil organic carbon. This form of carbon is also a matter of serious concern for agricultural scientists across the globe because various researches reveal that the soil under intensive cultivation results in de-clining potential productivity due to reduction in soil organic carbon, thereby proving an obstacle for sustainable agriculture. Plants are the main source of the soil organic carbon, either from the decomposition of aerial plant parts or underground plant parts, e.g. roots in the form of root death, root exudates and root respiration. About 40% of the photosynthates synthesized in the plant parts is lost through the root system into the rhizosphere within an hour and the rate of loss is influenced by several factors, e.g. plant age, different biotic and abiotic stresses, etc. The rhizospheric environment of the plant is different compared to bulk soil with respect to physical, chemical and biological properties. Thus the aim of this article is to provide an insight on the contri-bution of plant roots for transfer of carbon from atmosphere to rhizosphere and further their signi-ficance in sustainable agriculture.