Potentiality of carbon sequestration by agroforestry species in Bangladesh

Agroforestry, a land-use system, is receiving wider attention not only in terms of agricultural sustainability but also in issues related to climate change. The potentiality to sequester carbon by agroforestry species in sub-tropical regions like Bangladesh is promising. A field experiment was conducted to evaluate the carbon sequestration potentiality of three agroforestry species (Albizia lebbeck, Leucaena leucocephala and Melia azedarach) in the northern part of Bangladesh. The carbon sequestration potential of three agroforestry species varied from 115 to 135 Mg C/ha/year at the age of seven years after plantation. Among the agroforestry tree species, L. leucocephala sequestrated maximum amount (135 Mg C/ha/year) of carbon from the atmosphere followed by M. azedarach (120 Mg C/ha/year) and A. lebbeck (115 Mg C/ha/year). Therefore, carbon sequestration potentiality of the studied agroforestry species can be ranked as L. leucocephala>M. azedarach>A. lebbeck.