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Soil organic carbon (SOC) is a strong determinant of soil quality and agronomic productivity especially under harsh arid and semiarid environments of the tropics. Thus, a 20-year experiment was used to assess the impact of rainfed groundnut (Arachis hypogeae) monocropping, fertilization and manuring on soil quality, SOC sequestration, and crop yield sustainability on an Alfisol in southern India. Five treatments with 4 replications were: (1) control (no fertilizer or manure), (2) 100% recommended dose of fertilizer (RDF, 20:40:40kgha⁻¹ of N:P₂O₅:K₂O), (3) 50% RDF+4Mgha⁻¹ of groundnut shells (GNS), (4) 50% RDF+4Mgha⁻¹ of farmyard manure (FYM) and (5) 5Mgha⁻¹ of FYM. The SOC concentration to 1-m depth increased from 2.3 to 3.5gkg⁻¹ (52.2%) in 50% RDF+4Mgha⁻¹ GNS over control and mean SOC sequestration rate was 0.57MgCha⁻¹yr⁻¹. Higher mean pod yield of groundnut (Mgha⁻¹) was …