Environmental Challenges (Aug 2021)
Variation in specific gravity and carbon proportion of agroforestry tree species of Himalaya
Abstract
Country-specific emission factors for the Agriculture, Forestry, and Other Land Use (AFOLU) sector are important for the national greenhouse gas (GHG) inventory. Carbon stocks of trees outside forests (TOF) and agroforestry is lacking due to the unavailability of wood density and carbon fraction of various tree species. The present study is an attempt to provide estimates of wood specific gravity (WSG) and carbon content (CC) in agroforestry tree species being cultivated by farmers in Garhwal Himalaya, India for precise estimation of biomass carbon of TOF and agroforestry. A total of 160 quadrats were laid randomly in agroforestry farms to represent the area of Pauri Garhwal and Rudraprayag districts of Garhwal Himalaya. A minimum of ten matured individuals for all 33 important agroforestry species including fruit trees were randomly selected from the quadrats. Minimum ten wood samples for each species were collected at 1.37 m height from ground for each individual. The samples were wood cores to the pith and were extracted from trees circumference using an increment borer for estimation of WSG and CC. The WSG of Carica papaya was minimum to the tune of 0.16 g cm−3 and maximum for Quercus leucotrichophora with 0.81 g cm−3. The carbon content varied from 36.37% for Carica papaya to 46.52% for Pinus roxburghii. The results of the present study differed from the earlier reports for other locations suggesting the importance of developing data set on WSG and CC for precise estimation of biomass carbon stock. The estimates of WSG and CC of agroforestry tree species would complement and improve the accuracy of national GHG inventory reporting in India for tree cover. Moreover, the accurate evaluation of carbon stock would be the enabling factor for the formulation of suitable policies and programmes for forest conservation, and sustainable rural livelihood through land use based adaptation and mitigation option.
