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Foxnut (makhana): a productive and economic crop providing good niche for soil carbon storage and stability in lower Gangetic wetlands
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  • Published: 18 February 2026

Foxnut (makhana): a productive and economic crop providing good niche for soil carbon storage and stability in lower Gangetic wetlands

  • Shreyasi Gupta Choudhury  ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-4929-20111,
  • Nirmalendu Basak  ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-2281-02531,
  • Tapati Banerjee  ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-4446-01831,
  • Subrata Mukhopadhyay  ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-9156-55621,
  • Birendra Nath Ghosh  ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-2416-36001,
  • Krishnendu Das1,
  • Anil Kumar Sahoo1,
  • Udayan Rudra Bhowmick  ORCID: orcid.org/0009-0001-8178-76121,
  • Masjuda Khatun  ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-4505-72651,
  • Feroze Hasan Rahman  ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-7193-68641 &
  • …
  • Nitin G. Patil  ORCID: orcid.org/0009-0000-1888-02272 

Scientific Reports , Article number:  (2026) Cite this article

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Subjects

  • Ecology
  • Environmental sciences
  • Plant sciences

Abstract

Commercial crop Foxnut (makhana) cultivation is being popularized for the productive utilization of wetlands in eastern India. Here, the impact of two different cropping on organic C (OC) stock, stability, exogenous C input by crops, system yield, and economics has been studied in soils of makhana and rice–rice–fallow collected from at least five– year–old cultivation fields at Malda district, West Bengal State, India. Six geo–referenced soil samples (three from each) after harvesting of the winter (boro) rice at 0–25, 25–50, 50–75, and 75–100 cm depth was considered to capture the variability of OC stock and stability in each depth of soil. Soil inorganic C (TIC) and organic (SOC) fraction, total organic C (TOC), simple oxidizable Walkley and Black C (CWBOC), very labile, labile, less labile, non–labile, active, passive pools, and several SOC indices [recalcitrant, lability, and stratification ratio (SR)] were captured based on oxidation with several strengths of chromic acid. Soils of makhana contained a larger amount of sand, less clay, silt, and more compacted, contained more available macro and micronutrients. Conversely, in most of cases, TOC stock and its different pools were higher in rice–rice–fallow than makhana cropping (P < 0.05) with a decreasing trend along the depth. Recalcitrant indices (RI1 and RI2) of the SOC were larger for soils under makhana than rice–rice–fallow in surface soil, and contrary to the values of the lability index. However, SR was higher in soil under rice–rice–fallow than makhana (P < 0.05), indicating a better soil quality in the former than the latter. The system makhana rice equivalent yield (SMREY) was calculated and these values and benefit to cost (B: C) for makhana cultivation was greater than rice–rice–fallow (P < 0.05). This was again verified with larger carbon management index for rice–rice–fallow than makhana. The soil properties, larger exogenous C–input, and management practice prevailed over the effect of rice and its ecology on the stock and stability of SOC than makhana. Therefore, double rice–based systems, practised in the lower Ganges–basin showed better C economy, but makhana showed high economic return.

Data availability

The datasets used or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Abbreviations

SOC:

soil organic C

CWB :

simple oxidizable Walkley and Black C

CVL :

very labile pool

CL :

labile pool

CLL :

less labile

CNL :

non-labile pool

TOC:

total organic C

RI:

recalcitrant index

LI:

lability index

SR:

stratification ratio

CMI:

C management index

PCA:

Principal component analysis

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Acknowledgements

Prior informed consent was obtained from the farmers Mr Dulal Hossain, Turab Ali, Nagir Hossain Village Katlamari, Block Harishchandrapur–II; Mr Rafikul Islam, Village Belsur, Mr Bani Isril, Village Kharagram; Mr Bablu, Village Talsur, Harishchandrapur– II; Suboudh Ghosh, Village: Saltanagar, PO: Satyanarayan; Babla, Village: Sahapm Boundary, Harischandrapur–II; Manun Sarkar, Village: Suti, PO: Sadarpn; Bacchu Ali, Vill: Suti, PO: Sadarpm, Chanchal–II, Malda district, West Bengal, India, that the information provided in this paper could be recorded and published. The knowledge and information received from all the farmers (as mention above) of study areas and reported in this article are gratefully acknowledged. The funding for collection of field data was supported by ICAR–NBSS&LUP, Regional Centre Kolkata, India through its Institute projects on NRMANBSSLUPSIL201702400483: Land Resource Inventory of Maldah District, West Bengal at 1:10000 scale using Geo–spatial Techniques.

Funding

Indian Council of Agricultural Research– National Bureau of Soil Survey and Land Use Planning, Nagpur, Maharashtra, India.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. ICAR–National Bureau of Soil Survey and Land Use Planning, Regional Centre Kolkata, Salt Lake city, 700 091, Kolkata, West Bengal, India

    Shreyasi Gupta Choudhury, Nirmalendu Basak, Tapati Banerjee, Subrata Mukhopadhyay, Birendra Nath Ghosh, Krishnendu Das, Anil Kumar Sahoo, Udayan Rudra Bhowmick, Masjuda Khatun & Feroze Hasan Rahman

  2. ICAR–National Bureau of Soil Survey and Land Use Planning, Nagpur, 440 033, Maharashtra, India

    Nitin G. Patil

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Contributions

Shreyasi Gupta Choudhury : Conceptualization, Funding acquisition, Data curation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Original draft, Review, and editing; Nirmalendu Basak : Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Software, Original draft, Review, and editing; Tapati Banerjee: Conceptualization, Review, and editing; Subrata Mukherjee: Data curation, Review, and editing; Birendra Nath Ghosh: Data curation, Review, and editing; Krishnendu Das: Data curation, Review, and editing; Anil Kumar Sahoo RKY: Data curation, Udayan Rudra Bhowmick: Data curation, Formal analysis, Review, and editing; Masjuda Khatun: Data curation, Formal analysis; Feroze Hasan Rahman: Conceptualization and Review, and editing; Nitin G. Patil: Conceptualization and Review, and editing.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Nirmalendu Basak.

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All methods, experimental research, and pot studies on plants complied with relevant institutional, national, and international guidelines and legislation. Ethical was obtained from the Project Monitoring and Evaluation Cell headed by the Director, ICAR–NBSS&LUP, Nagpur, Maharashtra (India).

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Choudhury, S.G., Basak, N., Banerjee, T. et al. Foxnut (makhana): a productive and economic crop providing good niche for soil carbon storage and stability in lower Gangetic wetlands. Sci Rep (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-40676-3

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  • Received: 08 October 2025

  • Accepted: 16 February 2026

  • Published: 18 February 2026

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-40676-3

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Keywords

  • Soil organic C
  • labile and recalcitrant pools of C
  • agro-ecological zones
  • cropping systems
  • SOC indices
  • stratification ratio
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