Abstract
B. balcooa and B. tulda are very fast growing, highly productive and predominant species in Central Siwalik region. The growth pattern of bamboo was found to have two distinct periods, the first being culm height growth and the second which commences after attaining maximum height is the accumulation of dry mass and increase strength until complete maturation. The sprouting young culms of bamboo were tagged during June and July, 2016. Soil sample analysis from five different depth (0, 10, 20, 30 and 40 cm) of B. balcooa and B. tulda growing site for physico-chemical and microbial analysis showed the average result of moisture content (7.61; 7.02 %), electrical conductivity (1.04; 1.01 ds/m), extractable phosphorus (25.09; 23.08 kg/ha), pH (6.82; 5.92), bulk density (0.87; 1.39 gm/cm3) and water holding capacity (754; 683 ml/l) and microbial biomass from bamboo rhizosphere (767600; 695400 CFUs/gram) respectively. Thirty randomly selected culms of different dbh (diameter at breast height) classes for each species were carefully analyzed by non-destructive growth analysis method for various growth parameters for two times in an interval of three months. The growth analysis of B. balcooa and B. tulda recorded the mean value for culm length (18.12± 0.68; 17.34±0.51 m), culm diameter (9.0±0.31; 7.54±0.08 cm), no. of branches (28.0±6.92; 16±1.51), branch length (60.19±18.49; 34.75±0.82 cm), no. of nodes (120.80±0.65; 19.30±0.63), length of internode (5.41±0.25; 4.41±0.06 cm) and specific leaf area (40.93±1.32; 38.42±1.25 cm2) respectively. The correlation analysis of culm diameter and culm height of B. balcooa revealed strongly positive relation (r = 0.90) whereas B. tulda exhibited less positive correlation (r = 0.70). This study revealed that the B. balcooa has better growth performance than B. tulda despite the fact that physico-chemical parameters of soil have non-significant differences. B. balcooa deserves high prospect for its application in pulp and paper industry, raw material for construction, soil rehabilitation, etc. however, it demands further studies in more detail.
