Assessment of Annual Shoot Biomass and Carbon Storage Potential of Grewia optiva: an Approach to Combat Climate Change in Garhwal Himalaya

Abstract

Climate change is major challenge in modern era and requires key attention to the researcher, globally. Carbon (‘C’) sequestering through agroforestry is one of the ways to mitigate the carbon reduction and provide safeguards to the environment for livelihood. The present study was conducted on Grewia optiva tree which is dominated in agroforestry systems of Tehri Garhwal Himalaya (Uttarakhand) in different villages at three altitudes, i.e., upper altitudes (UA), middle altitude (MA), and lower altitude (LA) ranged from 500 to 1500 m amsl. Soil moisture, water holding capacity (WHC), bulk density (BD), and soil organic carbon (SOC) reported highest in LA compared to MA and UA, which might be because of all eroded material deposited in LA . Further, nitrogen storage in UA is higher due to comparatively low temperature significantly lower the microbial activities for N2O emission than MA and LA. The low nitogen in LA might be due to higher nitrification and/or denitrification rate. The same also supported by low carbon content (energy sources to microbial activity) in LA. The density of Grewia optiva in agroforestry was high in LA; however, total tree carbon was highest in MA (20.8 t/ha) followed by UA (20.4 t/ha) and LA (19.1 t/ha) while annual shoot carbon was highest in LA (2.43 t/ha) followed by MA (1.08 t/ha) and UA (0.77 t/ha). Further, carbon credit likely to be earned from the agroforestry under G. optiva is estimated as 553,702 Euro. Therefore, Grewia optiva is strongly recommending for agroforestry which will further help in socioeconomic development and carbon-reducing strategies in mitigating future climate.