Build-up of labile, non-labile carbon fractions under fourteen-year-old bamboo plantations in the Himalayan foothills

Abstract

Carbon fractions under different bamboo species viz ., Bambusa balcooa, Bambusa bambos, Bambusa nutans, Dendrocalamus hamiltonii, Dendrocalamus asper and Dendrocalamus strictus were evaluated to understand the potential of these different bamboo species in soil rehabilitation in Himalayan foothills. The highest accumulation of the different carbon fractions likes very labile (6.12 mg g −1 ), less labile (2.55 mg g −1 ) and non-labile (11.40 mg g −1 ) was observed under D. hamiltonii, while highest labile fraction (3.17 mg g −1 ) was recorded under D. strictus . The highest active (8.85 mg g −1 ) and passive pool (13.95 mg g −1 ) were recorded under D. hamiltonii . Higher carbon management index (CMI) was obtained under D. hamiltonii (186.04) which was comparable with D. strictus (182.66) and B. nutans (179.24). Among all the six species, D. hamiltonii had the highest buildup of active and passive pool in both the soil depths. Bamboo plantations irrespective of the different species helped in enhancing the SOC fraction and enhanced C buildup in the soil in comparison to the open fallow land and holds potential in combating the problems of land degradation and soil rehabilitation.

Carbon Management Index and Soil Organic Carbon pools of Different land use in Uttarakhand, Western Himalaya

“…Furthermore, higher CMI value under bamboo plantation was also reported. 25 Also, lowest CMI value in soil stratum (0-20 cm) indicates that intensive soil management practices results in soil quality decline. CMI is a sensitive and helpful index for evaluating soil organic carbon dynamics over varied landuse.…”

Short-Term Effects of Bamboo Plantation on Soil Carbon Fractions, Carbon and Nitrogen Stocks in Eastern Himalayas, India

“…Bamboo is a highly effective species for soil C sequestration (Nath et al 2015a) and it was found that soil C pools varied significantly after bamboo plantation. Kaushal et al (2021) reported that variation in soil C pools is mainly due to the abundant fine root biomass production and its subsequent decomposition. Moreover, the presence of high litter debris maintains the supply of easily decomposable C compounds and microbial population (Kaur et al 2008;Benbi et al 2015).…”

“…Worldwide, about 1500 species of bamboo from 75 to 107 genera have been reported (Ohrnberger 1999) and India is the second country after China in bamboo genetic resources, with around 136 species belonging to 23 genera (IFSR 2017). The estimated area coverage of bamboo in India is about 15.69 million ha (Kaushal et al 2021). Bamboo is known to provide various environmental benefits such as wind breaks, construction and timber materials, fuel wood, rehabilitation of degraded lands for erosion control and watershed protection (INBAR 2010;Nath et al 2015a;Mishra et al 2014).…”