Soil carbon sequestration potential of Jatropha curcas L. growing in varying soil conditions

•Soil carbon sequestration potential of Jatropha has studied in detail.•Jatropha enhanced the soil nutrients, microbial biomass and biochemical attributes.•Jatropha also enhanced the soil carbon pool.•Growth performance was poor in sodic lands.•More agronomic practices are needed for field utilization. The present study was aimed to evaluate the soil carbon sequestration and reclamation potential of Jatropha curcas L. (JCL) growing in varying soil conditions. For this, a study was conducted during 2008–2012 at four different sites of Jatropha plantations (Banthara, Gajaria, Bakshi ka talab and NBRI) growing in central India. Periodic sampling was done for plant biomass, litter turn over, microbial biomass, soil enzymes and carbon and nutrients stock of JCL plantations. The analytical studies clearly indicate that irrespective of the soil sites, the Jatropha plantations significantly enhanced (α=5%; p≤0.05) the total organic carbon, total Kjeldahl nitrogen, available phosphorus and potassium content n the soil. During the fourth year of plantations, the total plant biomass (including the above and below ground biomass) of JCL growing in various plantation sites has been increased from 15.20±4.60 to 203.00±40.60tha−1year−1 with a subsequent total biomass carbon content of 7.60±2.30 to 101.50±13.52tha−1year−1, respectively. Similarly, the soil carbon stock of the plantation sites varied from 20.59 to 50.45Mgha−1year−1. Furthermore, the microbial biomass carbon content of the four different sites varied from 132.64±9.28 to 641.32±38.48μgg−1 soils. Therefore, the study clearly indicates that JCL plantations can significantly (p≤0.01) enhance the soil quality including the soil carbon pool and microbial biomass carbon and can be used for the concurrent initiatives on biofuel production, soil carbon sequestration and soil reclamation.