Authors:Rane A. D., S. Chandramouli and S. Viswanath
Abstract:Dendrocalamus stocksii is a thornless, mid-sized, erect, almost solid bamboo species endemic to the Central Western Ghats of India having considerable commercial importance. Its multifarious uses in agrarian sector is manifested in the way farmers maintain it in field bunds/farm boundaries and in homesteads. Due to the nearly solid nature of culms, it is replacing cane in the furniture industry. Evaluation of growth attributes of 100 clumps of Dendrocalamus stocksii randomly sampled along the Western Ghats showed considerable variation in culm and clump parameters. Analysis also revealed that th certain parameters like culm wall thickness to diameter ratio and 5 internode length and diameter had better heritability estimates. The potential of D. stocksii for exploitation as edible shoots revealed that the macro nutritional composition was on par with three other local bamboo species. The cyanogenic glycosides responsible for the bitterness in shoots are found to be low in D. stocksii. Financial analysis reveal that from a plantation managed for culm and shoot production, a potential revenue of around Rs.4.5 lakhs (USD 6705)/year/ha from culms in the sixth year onwards and Rs. 1.6 lakhs (USD 2384)/ year from juvenile shoots can be reasonably expected thus indicating the overall usefulness of the species in Central Western Ghats.
Keywords:Dendrocalamus stocksii, edible shoots, domestication, Peninsular India