Throughfall and stemflow measurement in bamboo (Dendrocalmus strictus) plantation

Study of onsite water balance is very important to understand ecosystem response to global climate change. Measurement or estimation of various hydrological component processes is necessary for this. Canopy interception losses of rainfall affect the amount of water reaching the soil in several ways, and are therefore of relevance to many hydrological investigations. Several authors studied throghfall and stemflow partitioning in different forest species but it is found difficult to measure them in grass species like bamboo. Keeping these considerations in view, an attempt was made to measure the fractions of rainfall as throghfall, stemflow and interception loss of bamboo plantation in degraded ravine lands under semi-arid climatic condition of Central Gujarat, India. The low cost plastic stemflow collar with attached raingauge was used to record the stemflow amount and intensity without involving much manpower and is found economical and simple than costly and sophisticated instruments. The analysis revealed that the throughfall varied from 43 to 72%, stemflow varied from 7 to 22% and interception losses varied from 12 to 50% of the rainfall. The funnelling ratio varied from 22–91. The high stem flow amount and funnelling ratio of bamboo plants in comparison to deciduous and coniferous plants makes better rainfall absorption and hydrologically best suited plantation in degraded ravine lands.