Abstract
<p>The general equations available/developed for forest/wild mango trees based on measurement of diameter at breast height (DBH) (cannot be used) are not applicable for mango orchards which are predominantly established with grafted plants. Hence allometric equations were developed with destructive sampling of grafted mango trees. The selected parameters showed that allometric parameters were significantly related with age of the trees. The proportion of roots (22%) in grafted mangos was found to be higher than those reported for tropical forest trees (18%) with a R ratio of 0.291. The biomass expansion factor (BEF) varied with age. Initially the BEF was very high followed by a decreasing phase and finally a steady phase by and large attained stability beyond 20 years. The equations generally fitted the data well, and in most cases more than 50% of the observed variation in biomass was explained by primary branch girth (PBG) × number of primary branches (NPB). All equations were statistically significant (p &lt; 0.05) for both scaling parameters, a and b. Based on the R<sup>2</sup> values the best fit model for estimation of above ground biomass of grafted mango trees is a power model using PBG × NPB as the best dimension: There was a good agreement between the observed and the predicted biomass using this equation.</p>
Highlights
Non-destructive estimates of tree biomass are essential for several purposes
The two rainy seasons, June to September and October to November, follow one after the other but with opposite wind regimes, corresponding to the southwest and northeast monsoons. 2.2 Selection of Trees Seventy-four mango trees varying in age groups from 3 years to 85 years were identified for destructive sampling
The proportion of roots (22%) was found to be higher than those reported for tropical forest trees (18%).The general above ground to below ground ration reported for tropical forest trees is 0.26 (Cairns et al, 1997) while we found it to be 0.29 in this study
Summary
Non-destructive estimates of tree biomass are essential for several purposes. For example, it is essential in assessing forest structure and conditions (Westman & Rogers, 1977); estimating forest productivity and carbon fluxes (Chambers et al, 2001); for sequestration of carbon in wood, leaves, and roots (Specht & West, 2003); for estimating carbon sequestration and for assessing site productivity. Tree allometry is a statistical tool to relate some fairly easy to measure parameters of trees like DBH to such parameters which are often more difficult to assess To obtain such relationships detailed measurements on a small sample of typical trees are made and relationships are worked out such that they permit extrapolations and estimations of a host of dendrometric quantities on the basis of a single (or at most a few) measurements. The data base in perennial horticulture are very poor to develop allometric relationship that relate, if any, existing between the parts of the subject measured and the quantities of parameters of interest (Smith & Brand, 1983) This should take in to account the factors which affect tree growth such as age, species, site location, etc. Once all these guidelines are met, one may attempt to develop an allometric equation
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