Estimating the change of biomass and carbon with age and stem volume of Tectona geands Lin. f.

Abstract

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Enhancement of carbon storage in tree biomass through the establishment of manmade forests is considered as a viable option to reduce atmospheric CO2 levels. Therefore the present study was conducted to estimate the biomass and carbon contents of the main stem of Tectona grandis Lin. f. (Teak) plantations in Sri Lanka using a non-destructive sampling technique. Harvesting of T. grandis is scheduled in Sri Lanka after 35 years of planting and therefore it is considered as a long rotation species. Allometric models were built to predict the variation of stem biomass and carbon of T. grandis with age and stem volume. A separate model was also built to predict the stem carbon change with the stem biomass. 23 T. grandis plantations were selected covering all three climatic zones, viz. dry, intermediate and wet of Sri Lanka for necessary data collection. Breast height diameter and height were measured for the sampled trees. Stem volume was calculated by a volume function which used diameter and height as the explanatory variables. Stem biomass and carbon contents were calculated converting those values of core samples obtained from the trees using a tree increment borer. Results revealed that the average stem carbon content is 55% from the biomass. However, there were variations of this value for certain plantations of different ages. All allometric models built in this study had high R2 values which were over 90%.