LAUSR

Abstract The present study was conducted to examine how different organs of plants (leaf, stem and root) of Tamarix aphylla and Tamarix kotschyi could affect carbon sequestration in soil depths ranging from 0 to 15 cm and 15 to 30 cm. This study was carried out in the Ahoochar region, 25 km north of Shiraz, during 2015–2017. This study was carried out in two separate factorial experiment arranged in a randomized complete design. The first factor was the type of plant species in both experiments. The second factor was the plant organs in experiment I and different soil depths in experiment II. The results showed that there was a higher degree of carbon sequestration in depths that ranged from 0–15 cm, compared to soil at 15–30 cm depth. The results of correlation coefficients showed that the percentage of clay was the strongest parameter that contributed to carbon sequestration. Furthermore, Tamarix aphylla and T. kotschyi showed similar amounts of organic carbon stored in their tissues. Stems had higher amounts of stored organic carbon compared to the leaves. In general, it was observed that carbon sequestration reached its highest level (54.15 t/ha) in soil with T. kotschyi at 0–15 cm depth. The stem of both plants had a higher ability for carbon sequestration.