Assessment of Biomass, Carbon stock and Carbon Sequestration Potential of Two Major Land Uses of Mizoram, India

摘要

Assessment of biomass, carbon stock and carbon sequestration potential have never been carried out in major land uses of Mizoram. We aimed at comparin g the carbon sequestration potential of two major land uses (Shi?ing agriculture and homegardens) involving 32 sites drawn from different size and age groups so as to understand their role in carbon sink and mitigation process. Biomass in homegardens (HGS) ranged fro111 1 16.8 to 278.5 Mg ha" and 60.0 to 95.2 Mg ha" in shifting cultivation fallows (SCFs) while the biomass carbon in HGS and SCFS ranged from 59.0 to 140.0 Mg C ha" and 31.6 to 49.1 Mg C ha“, respectively. Among the homegardens, the older HGS stored higher biomass than the yoimger ones while reverse was true for the SCFs. Carbon stock in HGS (291.0 :1: 15.4 Mg C ha") was higher than in the SCFs (164.1 :1: 8.6 Mg C ha"). Carbon stocks of soil organic carbon (SOC) and living biomass components were signi?cantly (p<0.05) higher in HGs than SCFs, while carbon stock of 11011-living biomass in SCFs was higher than that of HGS. In both HGS and SCFS, a positive increment of living biomass C was observed while the non- living biomass C decreased. Small HGs signi?cantly (p<0.05) sequester more carbon than the medium and large sized homegardens. The rate of CO2 mitigation potential in HGS and SCFS exhibited range of 4.86 to 22.89 and 2.67 to 12.29 Mg ha" yr", respectively.