Evaluating bioeconomic potential of Phyllostachys mannii Gamble, a monopodial bamboo and Chimonocalamus griffithianus (Munro) Hsueh & T.P. Yi, a sympodial bamboo from north-eastern India

Abstract

The bioeconomic potential of monopodial and sympodial bamboos is not well understood. Therefore, Net primary productivity (NPP), total biomass, carbon (C) stock, soil organic carbon (SOC), CO₂ sequestration, and bioenergy potential were studied in a sympodial Chimonocalamus griffithianus and a monopodial Phyllostachys mannii bamboo in Meghalaya, north-eastern India. P. mannii stand with mean culm density 16,877 ha^-1, height 14.8 m and diameter 4.4 cm, accumulated 107.56 Mg ha^-1 biomass with a total NPP of 18.83 t ha^-1yr^-1. It stored 50.67 Mg C ha^-1 in biomass, 77.28 Mg C ha^-1 in soil, and had sequestration potential of 469.58 t CO₂ ha^-1. C. griffithianus stand with mean clump density 1065 ha^-1, mean culm density 52,185 ha^-1, height 7.19 m and diameter 3.04 cm, accumulated 67.08 Mg ha^-1 biomass with a total NPP of 15.30 t ha^-1 yr^-1. It stored 31.30 Mg C ha^-1 in biomass, 83.25 Mg C ha^-1 in soil, and had sequestration potential of 420.40 t CO₂ ha^-1. Matured culms (>2–3 years old) of P. manni and C. griffithianus produced 143.08–166.65 MW h and 87.13–101.48 MW h of energy per ha, respectively. Although landuse history and site characteristics of the two stands were not 10037; identical, significantly greater (p<0.05) standing biomass, NPP, growth rate, carbon sequestration potential, and energy values of P. mannii than C. griffithianus makes the monopodial bamboo a better choice for energy plantation and climate change mitigation tool than the sympodial.