Abstract
Poplar is one of the most popular species of forestry and agroforestry land-use worldwide. It is currently assuming a growing importance for timber, bioenergy production and Carbon sequestration. Soil Carbon accumulation is associated with root litter, whereas available studies are disproportionate on root system in this species. Therefore, the study aimed at finding how much root Carbon, a hybrid poplar species (Populus euramericana I-214) sequestered in Forest System (FRS) and Agroforest System (AFS) by using soil excavation and root coring methods. A suitable conversion factor was used to get sequestered Carbon estimated from biomass. Carbon was distributed in maximum length, breadth and depth through different root components of both the systems, AFS occupied more rooting volume. Total belowground sequestered Carbon was higher in AFS (59.2 kg tree-1) than FRS (54.7 kg tree-1). The pattern was similar in other components like fine roots, medium roots, coarse roots and stump roots. However, on hectare basis, FRS accumulated (11.1 Mg ha-1) more Carbon than AFS (8.2 Mg ha-1). Although FRS stored higher belowground Carbon (without grain production), AFS was more efficient on account of Carbon land equivalent ratio. Thus the two available management systems have their own advantages in terms of Carbon storage and grain production.
Highlights
Poplar is one of the most popular species of plantation and agroforestry worldwide as evident by its coverage of 8.6 million ha (1.5 m ha in agroforestry systems) (Kutsokon et al, 2015) and its prediction of further expansion in the future on marginal agricultural land to meet the demand of bioenergy and lumber in different countries (Christersson, 2010; FAO, 2012; Nielsen et al, 2014)
Allocation of Carbon per tree was higher in different root components – fine, medium and coarse roots in Agroforest System (AFS)
On hectare basis, sequestered Carbon was more in Forest System (FRS), mainly due to higher tree density
Summary
Poplar is one of the most popular species of plantation and agroforestry worldwide as evident by its coverage of 8.6 million ha (1.5 m ha in agroforestry systems) (Kutsokon et al, 2015) and its prediction of further expansion in the future on marginal agricultural land to meet the demand of bioenergy and lumber in different countries (Christersson, 2010; FAO, 2012; Nielsen et al, 2014). Poplar and its hybrids have displayed the capacity for rapid biomass accretion (Anderson et al, 1983; Pallardy et al, 2003). They can be raised to create economic benefit as well as to improve environment quality. Adopting this species in agrisilvicultural system has the added advantage of offsetting Carbon emission by agriculture (Kort and Turnock, 1988; Oelbermann et al, 2004; Peichl et al, 2006). Afforestation of arable land is regarded as one of the major potential Carbon sinks in Europe (Powlson et al, 1998). Conversion of arable land to forest implies a shift from a shorter to a longer residence time of Carbon by replacing annual crops with longer living, perennial, woody species (Rytter, 2012)
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