Biomass and carbon sequestration potential of agroforestry trees in Arunachal Pradesh, North East India

In present scenario of enhanced atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) coupled with the rise in temperature, it becomes essential to have accurate and realistic estimates of carbon stock in trees for determining their role in mitigating global warming and climate change. The present study was conducted to assess carbon sequestration potential and its allocation in different tree-components of ten important agroforestry tree species in the biodiversity-rich Arunachal Pradesh in the Indian eastern Himalayan region. On an average, branch and stem wood are the major contributors of carbon, but, trunk contributes 50% and branches and stem add 30% of carbon content, respectively. Allocation of carbon content was highest in Pinus kesiya with 45.52%, followed by Pinus wallichiana (44.85%); lowest carbon content was recorded for Cinnamomum camphora (42.12%). Above- and below-ground biomass, was recorded highest with Pinus kesiya; it sequestrated more carbon (252.82 kg/tree). Trends in CO2 removal followed the trends in carbon sequestration; for instance, it was highest in Pinus kesiya (61.79 kg/tree/year) and the lowest CO2 removal was recorded for Parkia roxburghii (4.46 kg/tree/year).