ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Agron.
Sec. Agroecological Cropping Systems
This article is part of the Research TopicEnhancing Ecosystem Services through Conservation Agriculture, Agroforestry, and Traditional Farming SystemsView all 12 articles
Impact of Slope Gradient on Tree Biomass, Carbon Sequestration, and Ecological Functions in Rayagada District, Odisha, India
Provisionally accepted
Prasanta Kumar Mishra1*
Rajesh Kaushal1*
Sadikul Islam1D. Ramajayam2Saubhagya Samal2Kulaswami Jagannath Jena3Pravu Charan Lenka4
JMS Tomar1M. Madhu1- 1Indian Institute of Soil and Water Conservation (ICAR), Dehradun, India
- 2ICAR-Indian Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Koraput, India
- 3Agragamee, Bhubneswar, India
- 4Odisha University of Agriculture and Technology, Bhubaneswar, India
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
The Eastern Ghats of Odisha are ecologically fragile facing land degradation, soil erosion, and livelihood insecurity. This study evaluates carbon sequestration potential of twelve multipurpose tree species planted across slope gradients (upper, middle, and bottom) in three eco-villages of Rayagada district using a 1-acre family farm model. Results revealed significant variations in 1-acre farm model; with bottom slopes exhibiting the highest tree density (82 trees), average height (4.27 m), crown spread (4.5 m), and carbon sequestration (73.1 Mg CO₂). Among species, A. occidentale and M. indica contributed the highest carbon stocks (7.27 and 6.97 Mg) and sequestration potential (26.70 and 25.59 Mg CO₂, respectively), while S. glauca and C. siamea showed superior biomass (631.6 and 627.1 kg tree⁻¹). The integrated 1-acre family farm model system produced carbon stock of 42.1 Mg acre-1, sequestered a total of 154.5 Mg CO₂ acre⁻¹, released 112.4 Mg oxygen acre⁻¹ and generated carbon credits worth Indian Rupee (INR) 256437 annually. Tree-based systems improved soil organic carbon and reduced bulk density and sustained crop yields and farm income (₹1.1–1.13 lakh per farmer). Overall, the findings demonstrate that slope-specific tree planting enhances ecological restoration, carbon sequestration, and livelihood resilience, and provide a basis for eco-village–based agroforestry models to advance climate-smart development in the Eastern Ghats.
Keywords: agroforestry, biomass accumulation, Carbon Sequestration, Eastern Ghats restoration, Eco-village model, Slope gradient, Terracing, Tree growth performance
Received: 26 Aug 2025; Accepted: 27 Oct 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Mishra, Kaushal, Islam, Ramajayam, Samal, Jena, Lenka, Tomar and Madhu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Prasanta Kumar Mishra, pkmbellary@gmail.com
Rajesh Kaushal, kaushalrajesh1@gmail.com
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.