Carbon Sequestration and Biomass Assessment of Mott Grass (Pennisetum purpureum), in three Growth Stages in Barani Areas of Pothwar, Pakistan

Abstract

Alternative renewable energy is getting progress in current era keeping in view of energy insecurity in the coming years and the ever increasing threat of environmental and social health due to the use of fossil fuel. Lingo-cellulosic biomass has seen getting fame as bioenergy crops in maintaining food security alongside fulfilling energy demands. Napier grass (Pennisetum purpureum) has turn out the promising nutritious forage to the livestock on the sustainable basis, feedstock for biofuel and also has proven to be environmental friendly. The purpose of this study is to assess the biomass production of mott grass and its capability to sequester Carbon from the environment in the barani areas of Pothwar region in Pakistan. The research study was conducted under rained condition in the field area of Rangeland Research Institute National Agricultural Research Centre Islamabad. In this regard an experimental plot of one acre area was established in the field area of RRI, NARC, Islamabad. Grass tuft of sized 15 cm was collected from the grass nursery of range land Research Institute (RRI) and plantation was carried out in one acre in barani condition. The area was laid down and plant to plant distance was 60 cm and row to row distance 90 cm kept in the research study area in RRI, NARC. The parameters of this experiment were included biomass production (BP) kg/ ha, carrying capacity (CC) kg/ha and carbon stock (CS) kg C /ha after interval of 21, 45 and 60 days along with the proximate analysis including protein content, crude fiber, ether extract, and total digestible nutrients. Significant results were obtained by applying ANOVA test on the data retrieved. All three factors (BP, CC and CS) showed maximum results after 60 days of growth. The result indicated that after the 60 days interval the animal unit per month gave the maximum fodder (7.0667 AU/M/Ha) that proposed to be grazed for large ruminants and then 21 small ruminants on the same biomass and also maximum forage production recorded 3882 kg/ha and it sequester carbon to up to 3560 kg C/ha in the given interval. Increase in fiber and ash content also justify the increase in biomass yield of the plant after interval of 60 days. The study indicates that Mott grass or Napier grass based on its high biomass yield is an effective approach in maintaining the fodder quality for animals on the sustainable basis and being bioenergy crop could make it a viable asset in declining the carbon burden off from environment and fulfilling the upcoming energy demands.

Impact of rangeland enclosure and seasonal grazing on protected and unprotected rangelands in Chakwal region, Pakistan

“…This has a negative impact on primary biomass production, which further affects animal productivity as discussed in (Wullschleger et al 2010). In the Pothwar region, winter rainfall is an important factor in controlling the composition and new growth of plant communities while summer rainfall is important for increasing the biomass production of existing plant species needed to sustain animals when other fodders are scarce (Shehzadi et al 2021). It has been observed that reductions in winter rainfall reduce germination and then establishment of plants, whereas summer drought is responsible for reducing grassland productivity (Bittencourt et al 2013).…”