Table 5 Soil microbial quotient (MBC/SOC) % in different land-use types of Eastern Himalayas. Means ± SE sharing the same letter are not statistically different by HSD test at 5% level of confidence

Subtropical forest

0–15

0.78 ± 0.12^a

0.59 ± 0.14^a

0.93 ± 0.08^ab

0.77 ± 0.11^a

15–30

1.09 ± 0.06^a

0.98 ± 0.11^a

1.38 ± 0.07^b

1.15 ± 0.08^ac

Mean

1.87 ± 0.18^a

1.57 ± 0.25^a

2.30 ± 0.15^ab

1.91 ± 0.19^a

Cardamom agroforestry

0–15

0.88 ± 0.09^a

0.72 ± 0.11^a

0.93 ± 0.06^a

0.85 ± 0.08^a

15–30

1.42 ± 0.05^a

1.02 ± 0.05^b

1.49 ± 0.06^ac

1.31 ± 0.05^ad

Mean

2.30 ± 0.13^a

1.74 ± 0.16^b

2.43 ± 0.12^ac

2.16 ± 0.13^ad

Paddy cropland

0–15

0.78 ± 0.07^a

0.78 ± 0.10^a

0.91 ± 0.07^a

0.83 ± 0.08^a

15–30

1.19 ± 0.05^a

1.14 ± 0.06^a

1.44 ± 0.04^c

1.26 ± 0.05^ad

Mean

1.97 ± 0.12^a

1.92 ± 0.16^a

2.35 ± 0.11^c

2.08 ± 0.13^a