Carbon pool can be found in
all four spheres of earth and the flux of carbon from one pool to another would
result in climate change. An increased awareness to offset release of carbon in
the atmosphere is emphasized in the United Nations Framework Convention on
Climate Change through Kyoto Protocol. The establishment of rubber forest for
the purpose of reducing atmospheric carbon is one of the options to sequester
carbon in addition to benefitting from timber harvests at the end of crop
rotation. The study analysed carbon concentration and carbon content in all
plant parts of eleven-years-old rubber clones; RRIM 2020 and RRIM 2025 planted
in four planting densities; 500, 1000, 1500 and 2000 plants/ha. Carbon
concentration was found the highest in leaf of RRIM 2020 at 500 plants/ha
density (53.3% 0.2%). This could be explained by the presence of
photosynthetic activity and the resulted high amount of lignin. Carbon content
is found the highest in large branch of RRIM 2020 at 500 plants/ha density
(93.04 ± 11.22 kg), because of the high biomass weight of large branch and the
abundant amount of lignocellulosic material. Trend analysis of total carbon
sequestered in plant parts with planting density was found to be in negative
pattern; quadratic and cubic regression for RRIM 2020 and RRIM 2025,
respectively. However when total carbon content per hectare was calculated it
was found that carbon content was the highest at 1500 plants/ha density
(140.355 ± 9888 kg, clone RRIM 2025). Even though high density planting gave
higher carbon sequestration per hectare, planting at 500 plants/ha is still
recommended as this gives more biomass weight to rubber plant parts and thus
subsequently benefits the timber industry.
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