Assessing soil organic carbon stock
(SOCS) and soil quality (SQ) helps design better agricultural practices
to improve environmental sustainability and productivity. The purpose of the
study is to assess SOCS and soil quality SQ in the main agroecosystems (AES) of
the eastern flank of Mount Bambouto (West, Cameroon). Using multiple statistics
tests and principal component analysis (PCA), SOCS and Soil Quality Index (SQI)
were computed for each AES. SOCS and SQI were computed based on soil chemical
properties and analysis of variance. Topsoil samples (0 - 30 cm) were collected in
a different AES and analyzed in the laboratory. The four AES identified and
selected are cultivated land (CL), forest
areas (FA), mixed areas (MA), and bush areas (BA). Further, multiple
comparison tests were used to compare soils from different AES. PCA was used to
select the most appropriate indicators that control SOCS and SQ. Several soil
properties showed high to very high coefficient
of variation within the AES. Organic matter (OM) was significantly high in FA.
SOCS and SQ differ significantly (p =
0.000) between the AES. The study further indicates that the main variables controlling SQ within the eastern
flank of Mount Bambouto are OM, pHw, N, C/N, and CEC. While the main soil
parameters controlling SOCS are OM, OC, BD, C/N, S, and pHKCl.
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