Short-Term Effects of Bamboo Plantation on Soil Carbon Fractions, Carbon and Nitrogen Stocks in Eastern Himalayas, India

Abstract

Forest degradation and land-use change are considered as the major activities resulting in loss of carbon (C) from soil and both the issues are major concern in Eastern Himalayan region (EHR) of India. Apart from this, bamboo is a widely distributed species in tropical/sub-tropical forest ecosystems of EHR. The current study was planned to assess the impacts of bamboo plantation on carbon fractions, C and nitrogen (N) stocks in soil. For this, the selected site was revisited three times, before and after the bamboo plantation. It was found that the value of bulk density (BD) increased significantly (1.27 g cm−3) after the plantation of bamboo and was recorded after four years of plantation, while effect on soil organic carbon (SOC) was not significant. However, SOC stocks (54.23 t C ha−1) and C:N (5.15) ratio were increased significantly and both TN contents and stocks were decreased with bamboo age. Moreover, very labile and labile fractions were significantly influenced after bamboo plantation. In addition, accumulation of less labile (2.03 mg g−1) and non-labile (1.68 mg g−1) was also recorded under bamboo plantation. The results clearly reveal that the soil carbon pools increased under bamboo soils and their sequestration potential can be harnessed to combat the land degradation and soil rehabilitation issues, thus, plantation of bamboo under fallow lands can be recommended as sustainable land management practice.