Informatics Publishing Limited

Sanjeev K. Chauhan , Naveen Gupta , Ritu , Sudhir Yadav , Rajni Chauhan

Abstract

The assessment of carbon storage potential has been difficult due to the lack of information on biomass compartmentation and carbon allocation in different species. For most of the species used for afforestation/reforestation, only the above ground biomass potentials are known but to have a picture of carbon storage potential of species, the below ground biomass pattern are equally important. This study was aimed to measure the biomass partitioning and the actual carbon allocation in different components of agroforestry tree species. The biomass accumulation through stem was highest in Acrocarpus fraxinifolius (22.35 kg), which was statistically at par with Populus deltoides (18.92 kg) and Eucalyptus tereticornis (16.16 kg). There was no statistical difference in below-ground biomass of different tree species. The highest tree stem carbon storage at the plantation level was found in Acrocarpus fraxinifolius (6.05 t ha^-1), while the lowest was in Syzygium cumini (0.73 t ha^-1). The mean carbon storage in tree ischolar_mains was 1.55 t ha^-1, while the mean stem carbon storage was 2.70 t ha^-1. It was observed that the carbon content of biomass components had relatively little influence on total carbon storage compared to the relative biomass in each tree components. Stem alone though was the largest store house of carbon but litter and ischolar_mains in the short rotation tree species play a major role in carbon sequestration in the soil reservoir. The fate of stem carbon depends upon its end use and needs locking up in post harvest products for longer period.

Keywords

Biomass Partitioning, Carbon Sequestration, C:N Ratio, Morphological Parameters,
Rooting Pattern, Short Rotation Tree Species

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