Growth behaviour of bamboo species in bamboo-based agroforestry system in mid-hill sub-humid conditions of Himachal Pradesh, India

An experiment was carried out at the experimental farm of the Department of Silviculture and Agroforestry, Dr YS Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni, Solan, HP during the year of 2012 with two bamboo species viz Dendrocalamus asper and D hamiltonii in open field conditions in which ginger was grown as field crop. D asper displayed superiority over D hamiltonii in respect of traits viz average height, average diameter growth, number of culms per clump, clump weight (tonnes/ha), leaves biomass (tonnes/ha), emergence of new shoots, biomass production (tons/ha), raw tender shoot biomass (tonnes/ha) and edible portion of shoot biomass (tonnes/ha). Significant increase in yield of ginger was observed under D asper (38.04 q/ha) in comparison to D hamiltonii and open field conditions.