Agroforestry land use systems present a win–win opportunity by acting as carbon sinks while assisting in achieving food security, livelihood income and environmental amelioration. In this context, the present study was carried out at farmer’s field in central Kashmir region of India with the aim to acknowledge the potential of apple based agroforestry system for biomass production and carbon stock assessment for climate change mitigation. For conducting the study four intercrops viz., rajmash (Phaseolus vulgaris), green gram (Vigna radiata), french bean (P. vulgaris) and oats (Avena sativa) were intercropped with 11-year-old plantation of apple. The maximum total crop biomass was registered under control french bean and oats (7.85 t ha⁻¹). Overall highest values of total biomass were observed under agroforestry system of apple + rajmash and Oats. The treatment, apple + rajmash and oats displayed highest values for both total tree biomass (29.16 t ha⁻¹) and overall biomass of system (33.00 t ha⁻¹). Maximum value of soil organic carbon (46.02 t ha⁻¹) was observed under apple + green gram and oats. The highest ecosystem carbon was stored in the treatment involving the tree crop combination of apple + rajmash and oats (64.18 t ha⁻¹) and is around 1.5 to 2 times higher than agriculture based system. The total ecosystem carbon in apple based land use system ranged between 53.23 and 64.18 t ha⁻¹. These agroforestry systems in Himalayas can go a long way in augmenting the overall production and productivity by satisfying the rural livelihoods besides acting as effective carbon sink through carbon stockpiling and sequestration. The outcome of the present study can be significant in selecting different crop combinations for fruit based land use systems, future carbon studies, climate change contemplates, soil carbon stock estimation and land use planning along the lines of REDD + activities in other fragile Himalayan ecosystems.

农林业土地利用系统通过充当碳汇，同时协助实现粮食安全，生计收入和环境改善，提供了双赢的机会。在这种情况下，本研究是在印度克什米尔中部地区的农民田间进行的，目的是认识到基于苹果的农林业系统对于减少生物量和减少气候变化的碳储量的潜力。为了进行研究，共种植了四种间作作物，即rajmash（菜豆），绿豆科植物（Vigna radiata），扁豆（P. vulgaris）和燕麦（Avena sativa））与11岁的苹果种植间作。在对照菜豆和燕麦中记录了最大的作物总生物量（7.85 t ha ^-1）。在苹果+ rajmash和燕麦的农林业系统下，总生物量的总体最高值。苹果+ rajmash和燕麦处理对树木总生物量（29.16 t ha ^-1）和系统总生物量（33.00 t ha ^-1）均显示最高值。在苹果+绿克和燕麦下，观察到土壤有机碳的最大值（46.02 t ha ^-1）。在涉及苹果+ rajmash和燕麦的树木作物组合的处理中，存储了最高的生态系统碳（64.18 t ha ^-1），比基于农业的系统高1.5到2倍。基于苹果的土地利用系统中的生态系统总碳在53.23至64.18 t ha ^-1之间。喜马拉雅山的这些农林业系统除了通过碳储存和封存作为有效的碳汇以外，还可以通过满足农村生计来提高整体生产和生产率，这还有很长的路要走。本研究的结果对于沿着基于水果的土地使用系统，未来的碳研究，气候变化设想，土壤碳储量估算和土地利用规划（沿着其他脆弱的喜马拉雅生态系统的REDD +活动）选择不同的作物组合可能具有重要意义。