Allometric models for predicting above-ground biomass and carbon stock of fodder tree species in northwestern himalayas

Five important fodder species of mid-hill zone of North-Western (NW) Himalayas viz. Grewia optiva, Celtis australis, Bauhinia variegata, Leucaena leucocephala, and Morus serrata were selected for the study. Whole tree biomass, biomass partioning, the carbon content of each part, was determined. Five models viz, linear, quadratic, cubic, power and compound were tried and tested with the data of biomass and carbon of fodder trees. Test statistics viz. T-test, R², adjusted R², and Standard Error (SE) were applied to arrive at the best fit model for each parameter. It was found that for leaf estimation of B. variegata and G. optiva compound model, for L. leucocephala and M. serrata power model and for C. australis Quadratic model is the best fit. Similarly, for other parameters like branch biomass, above-ground biomass, rate of carbon sequestration, and above ground carbon stock best fit models have been derived. The models developed had high significance as tested with different statistics and thus can be applied for NW Indian Himalayas.