Above ground standing biomass and carbon storage in village bamboos in North East India

Bamboo forms an important component in the traditional landscape of North East India. For biomass estimation of village bamboos of Barak Valley, North East India, allometric relationships were developed by harvest method describing leaf, branch and culm biomass with DBH as an independent variable using a log linear model. The culm density of the stand was 8950 culms ha(-1) during 2005 of which 67% of growing stock was represented by Bambusa cacharensis, 17.88% by Bambusa vulgaris and 15.12% by Bambusa balcooa. Above ground stand biomass was 121.51 tha(-1) of which 86% was contributed by culm component followed by branch (10%) and leaf (4%). With respect to species, B. cacharensis made up to 46% of total stand biomass followed by B. vulgaris (28%) and B. balcooa (26%). Carbon storage in the above ground biomass was 61.05 tha(-1). Allocation of C was more in culm components (53.05 tha(-1)) than in branch (5.81 tha(-1)) and leaf (2.19 tha(-1)). Carbon storage in the litter floor mass was 2.40 tha(-1), of which leaf litter made up the highest amount (1.37 tha(-1)) followed by sheath (0.86 tha(-1)) and branch (0.17 tha(-1)). Carbon stock in the soil up to 30 cm depth was 57.3 tha(-1). Gross C stock in the plantation was estimated to be 120.75 tha(-1). Carbon storage estimated in the bamboo stand of present study offers insights into the opportunity of village bamboos in the rural landscape for carbon storage through carbon sequestration. Management and utilization of village bamboos as a potential source of carbon sink by smallholder farmers are discussed in the context of their livelihood security and the Millennium Development Goals of the United Nations. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.