Carbon, Litter and Nutrient Status in Teak Stands of a Foothill Forest in Indian Eastern Himalayas

A study was conducted in teak stands of sub-humid foothill forest to estimate carbon storage, NPK status, litter production and -1 decomposition. The litter production was 5.61 Mg ha⁻¹ with turnover rate of litter decomposition in teak stands was only 12 months. The highest NPK and C availability was during September (269.54, -1 118.68 &163.09 Mg ha⁻¹ and 1.86%, respectively). Carbon stock is intricately linked with site quality, nature of land use, choice of species and other silivicultural practices adopted. These factors ultimately influence plant growth which is reflected into its biomass -1 (1938.28 Mg ha⁻¹). Total carbon accumulated including soil, litter and -1 biomass estimated was 911.27 Mg ha⁻¹. The site quality factors of the stands like tropical moist deciduous with soil having high organic carbon and available nitrogen and heavy precipitation, high mean monthly relative humidity and optimum temperature supported luxuriant growth supporting biomass production and carbon storage. Drawing CO₂ out of air and sequestering it into biomass is the 2 only known practical way to remove large volume of greenhouse gases from atmosphere and thus indicates the importance Commercially planted timber species like teak towards maintenance of atmospheric CO₂ efficiently which is permanently stored in its 2 biomass for a longer period of 20–100 years or even more.