Models for estimating Carbon stock in Stem wood biomass of Poplar trees in Agroforestry plantations in Tarai Plains of North-Western India

Abstract

Poplar (Populus deltoides) based Agroforestry Systems are prevalent in Saharanpur and Yamunanagar districts of North-Western India. These systems are not only remunerative to the farmers but also contributing in CO2 mitigation of environment through biomass accumulation in tree biomass. As stem wood biomass contributes maximum in total tree biomass and no direct method is available for estimating carbon stock in it, some models need to be developed. Primary data on Poplar trees from Agroforestry plantations of different ages was collected from the two districts. Two sets of data, one for boundary system and other for Agrisilvisulture System were used for developing models/equations. Linear and non-linear equations have been developed for carbon stock in stem wood biomass using height and diameter at breast height as explanatory variables. Fitted non-linear equations were found better than linear equations on the basis of adjusted R2 and mean square error for two systems. Thus, developed equations viz., C = -12.288+0.744D+0.139D2 (R2=0.998, MSE=1.219) for boundary system; C = 13.823+0.736D+0.143D2 (R2=0.998, MSE=0.719) for agrisilviculture system; and C = -12.645+0.719D+0.141D2 (R2=0.998, MSE=0.276) for pooled system; where C-carbon stock in stem wood biomass (kg/tree) and D-diameter at breast height (cm) are found good fit. Hence these models/equations may be used for estimating carbon stock in stem wood biomass of Poplar trees in Agroforestry plantations of tarai plains in North-Western India.