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

Rajesh Kaushal; Salil Tewari; Shanker Dutt Thapliyal; Amit Kumar; Trisha Roy; Sadikul Islam; S T S Lepcha; Jayaraman Durai

doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2021.e07850

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

Heliyon. 2021 Aug 21;7(8):e07850. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2021.e07850. eCollection 2021 Aug.

Authors

Rajesh Kaushal¹, Salil Tewari², Shanker Dutt Thapliyal¹, Amit Kumar³, Trisha Roy¹, Sadikul Islam¹, S T S Lepcha⁴, Jayaraman Durai⁵

Affiliations

¹ ICAR-Indian Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, 218 Kaulagarh Road, Dehradun, India.
² G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar, India.
³ Forest Ecology and Climate Change, Forest Research Institute, Dehradun, India.
⁴ National Bamboo Mission, Ministry of Agriculture & Famer Welfare, New Delhi, India.
⁵ International Network on Bamboo and Rattan, Beijing, China.

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.

Keywords: Active pool; Carbon management index; Labile pool; Non-labile pool; Passive pool.