Accumulation of carbon stock through plantation in urban area

Abstract

Emission of carbon dioxide (CO2) in urban area is higher compared to the rural area due to the presence of different emission sources within a small area. Carbon is sequestered by the plant photosynthesis and stored as biomass in different parts of the tree. Carbon sequestration rate (CSR) has been measured for young species (6 years age) of Albizzia lebbek in Indian Botanic Garden in Howrah district and Artocarpus integrifolia at Banobitan within Kolkata in the lower Gangetic plain of West Bengal in India by Automated Vaisala Made Instrument, GMP343 and aboveground biomass carbon has been analyzed by CHN analyzer. The specific objective of this article is to measure carbon sequestration rate and accumulation of biomass carbon stock of two young species of A. lebbek and A. integrifolia. The carbon sequestration rates (mean) as CO2 from the ambient air as obtained by A. lebbek and A. integrifolia were 14.86 and 4.22 g/h, respectively. The annual carbon sequestration rates from ambient air were estimated at 11.97 t C/ha by A. lebbek and 3.33 t C/ha by A. integrifolia. The percentages of carbon content (except root) in the aboveground biomass of A. lebbek and A. integrifolia were 47.12 and 43.33, respectively. The total accumulated aboveground biomass carbon stocks in 6 years as estimated for A. lebbek and A. integrifolia were 6.26 and 7.28 t C/ha, respectively, in these forest stands. Therefore, urban plantation based on better carbon sequestrated species will help to accumulate more biomass carbon stock as well as to offset the increasing CO2 level in ambient air. © 2010 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.