1. Quest for an appropriate
bamboo species in tropical
homegardens - Can
Dendrocalamus stocksii
(Munro) fit the bill?
S. Viswanath, A. Rane1, Sowmya, C. and M.S.Rao
Tree Improvement and Genetics Division, Institute of Wood
Science and Technology, Bangalore, India
1 College of Forestry, Dr.B.S.Konkan Krishi Vidyapeeth,
Dapoli, India
Email: sviswanath@icfre.org

2. • Dendrocalamus stocksii – Knowing the species
• Distribution in Peninsular India
• D.stocksii – Domestication in Konkan belt
• D.stocksii - Utility and Value addition
• D.stocksii – Integration in Homegardens
• Problems and prospects
• Conclusion
Outline of Talk

3. Why not bamboo?
• Cheap
• Renewable
• Fast growing
• Short rotation
• Wide adaptation
• Grows in poor soil and low
rainfall
• Multifarious uses
• C sequestration potential
• Rehabilitation of degraded
land
• High social, economic &
environmental values
• Create local employment
opportunities
• Substitute of traditional
timber wood in many ways
• Requires less energy for
processing

4. Number Number
Country of Genera of Species
Global 75 1250
Asia 65 900
China 26 300
Malaysia 10 44
India 23 145
Thailand 12 41
Vietnam 16 92
Indonesia - 65
Nepal 11 53
Bangladesh 8 20
Srilanka 1 7
Source: INBAR, 2005
Bio-resource of bamboo
(selected countries)

5. • Bamboo covers 11.3 m.ha of
forest area in India
• Main concentration in NE (28%) of
total bamboo area
• Madhya Pradesh (20%) and
Chattisgarh (12%)
• Highest productivity recorded in
Assam (5 MT/ha/yr)
• India with China & Myanmar –
75% of World’s bamboo resources
• Only 13.5 m. MT (17%) harvested
annually
Distribution and
productivity in India
• Dendrocalamus
strictus
• Bambusa bambos
• Melocanna baccifera
• B.balcooa
• B.tulda
• B.nutans
• D.stocksii
• Ochlandra
travancorica
Source: Lobovikov et al., 2005; Rai & Chauhan, 1998

6. Sl. No. Species Sl. No. Species
1 Bambusa bambos 10 D. hamiltonii
2 B. nutans 11 D. stocksii
3 B. pallida 12 D. strictus
4 B. polymorpha 13 D. asper
5 B. tulda 14 Guadua angustifolia
6 B. vulgaris 15 Meloconna baccifera
7 B. balcooa 16 Ochlandra travancorica
8 Dendrocalamus brandisii 17 Schizostachym dullooa
9 D. giganteus 18 Phyllostachys bambusoides
Economically important bamboo
species in India (NMBA)

7. In Peninsular India in Central
Western Ghats
Native Species
• D.strictus
• Bambusa bambos
• Ochlandra travancorica
• O.scriptoria
• D.stocksii
• D.brandisii
• D.giganteus
• B.vulgaris
• B.wamin
• B.multiplex
Introduced Species
• T.oliveri
• G.angustifolia
• D.asper
• B.balcooa
• B.tulda
• B.nutans
• B.textilis
• B.polymorpha
• B.membraneas
• D.hamiltonii
• B.pallida

8. Common homegarden spp. in
India
Spp. of North-east India
• Bambusa cachrensis
• Bambusa vulgaris
• Bambusa balcooa
• Teinostachyum dullooa
• Melocanna baccifera
• Bambusa nutans
Spp. of Peninsular India
• Bambusa bambos (Kerala)
• Ochlandra travancorica
(Kerala)
• Dendrocalamus brandisii
(Karnataka)
• Dendrocalamus stocksii
(Konkan belt)

9. Why these bamboo spp. do
not fit the bill
Bambusa bambos
Dendrocalamus strictus Ochlandra travancorica

10. Extremely manageable thornless
species with great economic and
ecological importance
Naturally distributed in Central
Western Ghats from Kasargod
(Kerala) to Ratnagiri (Maharashtra)
Most preferred by farmers in
Southern India

11. • Endemic to Western Ghats and traditionally utilized by
bamboo dependent communities.
• Commercial plantations (block and mixed) of this species are
present and each 20 feet culm is sold for Rs. 50/- to 200/-.
• Used in agricultural tools, farm structures, handicrafts,
construction, furniture etc.
• Early maturity, non-predominant node and easy working has
made it the most popular industrial species.
Why Dendrocalamus stocksii ?

12. Distribution of D. stocksii in
Central Western Ghats

13. D.stocksii in agroforestry
practices in Peninsular India
In homestead On farm boundaries
Block plantationsLive fence

14. D.stocksii - Intercropping
Intercropping with sweet potato
Intercropping with finger millet

15. Survey and Distribution of D. Stocksii genotypes
Central Western Ghats

16. Variation in morphological parameters
of Dendrocalamus stocksii genotypes
evaluated from Central Western Ghats:
S.
No. Parameter Maximum Minimum Mean
1 Clump diameter (m) 6.75 0.23 2.59
2 Clump height (m) 15.00 5.0 9.77
3
Total number of standing culms per
clump
139 10 54.60
4 Number of stumps per clump 150 00 24.85
5
Number of Current year culms per
clump
38 3 15.93
6 Culm basal diameter (mm) 70.06 9.00 44.85
7 Culm 5th internode diameter (mm) 57.32 6.75 37.38
8 Culm 5th internode length (cm) 52.00 9.00 44.85
9
Culm wall thickness to culm diameter
ratio
1.00 0.10 0.33
10 Culm height (m) 16.2 0.23 7.75
11 Commercial culm height (m) 13.0 2.90 7.75
12 Height of Solidness (m) 12.5 0.10 3.34

17. 12 populations of
Dendrocalamus stocksii
identified along the
Central Western Ghats
(M. C. J. Bottini et al. 2000;Carlos Navarro &Gustavo
Hernández, 2004)

18. Population Latitude (N) Longitude (E) Altitude (m.asl) No. of clumps
sampled
Dapoli 17.444338 73.110834 130.47 8
Patan 17.175870 73.492500 536.70 3
Ratnagiri 16.461830 73.245540 139.69 8
Sindhudurg 16.013478 73.521820 114.43 17
Kolhapur 15.510400 74.090800 762.61 9
North Goa 15.381850 74.023920 90.84 10
South Goa 15.230990 74.030200 80.17 4
Belgaum 15.443740 74.304050 738.86 8
Karwar 14.485160 74.272150 556.76 6
Sirsi 14.195870 74.512580 582.24 12
Udupi 13.154830 74.533230 88.92 7
Kasargod 12.295700 75.002620 113.97 10
Populations of D. stocksii identified
in Central Western Ghats

19. Culm production capacity of genotypes
in different populations of
Dendrocalamus stocksii
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
Number of standing culms per clump current year culms per clump
Number of harvested culms per clump Total number of culms per clump
12 Populations
Numberofculmsclump-1
No of culms
emerging
annually varied
from 11 to 19
across
populations

20. Population Clump
diameter
(m)
Commercial
culm height
(m)
Basal
diameter
of culms
(cm)
5th internode
diameter of
culms (cm)
5th internode
length of the
culms (cm)
Culm wall
thickness to
diameter
ratio
Height of
culm
solidness
(m)
Dapoli 2.58 8.61abc 4.55bcd 3.75bdcef 29.67fg 0.31abcde 0.85d
Patan 2.93 7.61bc 4.21def 3.42ef 35.10bc 0.57a 4.57abc
Ratnagiri 2.28 9.77abc 4.79ab 3.93abc 31.95def 0.32bcde 1.90bcd
Sindhudurg 2.40 8.78ab 4.63abc 3.88abcd 32.33cdef 0.33cde 5.14ab
Kolhapur 3.20 6.67c 4.43bcd 3.64cdef 28.20g 0.37cde 2.93bcd
North Goa 3.01 8.27bc 4.47bcd 3.88abcde 34.08bcd 0.29abc 1.63bcd
South Goa 2.94 8.67abc 4.47bcd 3.68bcdef 31.13ef 0.31abcde 2.25bcd
Belgaum 2.16 6.58c 4.33bcd 3.49ef 36.09bcde 0.48ab 7.01a
Karwar 2.23 9.58ab 4.90a 4.01ab 40.36a 0.27de 1.03cd
Sirsi 2.72 8.48abc 4.94a 4.07abcd 40.32a 0.35abcd 2.91bcd
Udupi 2.09 8.07abc 4.89a 4.41a 31.84edf 0.28abcd 0.23d
Kasargod 2.59 8.25abc 4.56bcd 3.85edf 33.71bced 0.27ab 1.14cd
SE ± 0.772 0.16 0.12 0.93 0.01 1.12
CD 5% N. S. 1.943 0.314 0.29 2.32 0.02 2.90
Trait means not followed by the same superscript are significantly different at p=0.05
Morphological parameters of D.stocksii
genotypes

21. Variation in clump and culm
characteristics in D.stocksii
populations

22. Culm Character GV PV EV GCV PCV ECV
Heritability
(%)
Genetic
Advance
Basal diameter 51.53 81.17 29.64 16.08 20.18 12.20 63.48 11.78
5th internode
diameter
35.91 63.17 27.26 16.11 21.36 14.04 56.84 9.30
5th internode
length
36.03 55.98 19.95 19.95 22.47 13.42 64.36 9.91
GV: Genetic variance; PV: Phenotypic variance; EV: Error of Variance; GCV: Genetic coefficient of Variance; PCV: Phenotypic coefficient of
Variance; ECV: Error coefficient of Variance
Genetic estimates of culm characters of
D. stocksii genotypes evaluated along the
Central Western Ghats

23. Utility and Value addition in Konkan
belt
> 40 mm dia
< 30 mm dia
> 50 mm dia
Different size
classes have
different utility
value

24. Multiple uses and Value addition in
Konkan belt
 Traditionally: harvest every year from the 4th year onwards
 Value addition: substitute to cane in furniture

25. • Juvenile shoots – edible
• Around 10-15 new shoots produced per clump every year
• >50% of extractable edible portion
Utility Value as edible shoots
D.stocksii
A B C D E F A B C D E F
A: B.balcooa; B: D.asper; C: D.stocksii; D: B.bambos; E: G.angustifolia; F: D.strictus

26. • Nutritional composition on par with other edible spp.
Utility Value as edible shoots
Name of Species Moisture % Protein
g/100g of
fresh wt
Carbohydrat
es
g/100g of
fresh wt
Fat
g/100g of
fresh wt
Crude fibre
g/100g of
fresh wt
Ash
%
Bambusa bambos 90.8±0.00 3.80±0.03 3.95±0.05 0.14±0.003 0.83±0.003 0.93±0.11
Bambusa balcooa 89.4±0.51 3.76±0.02 2.39±0.03 0.05±0.002 0.81±0.010 1.1±0.11
Guadua
angustifolia
90.8±0.20 3.16±0.04 2.17±0.34 0.35±0.058 0.76±0.010 1.1±0.42
Dendrocalamus
strictus
91.8±0.20 3.17±0.04 5.53±0.05 0.23±0.003 0.78±0.015 0.9±0.23
Dendrocalamus
asper
91.8±1.04 2.71±0.04 5.17±0.05 0.10±0.003 0.71±0.014 0.47±0.23
Dendrocalamus
stocksii
93.1±2.61 2.87±0.35 5.87±0.02 0.01±0.002 0.76±0.011 1.27±0.30

27. Utility and Value addition in Konkan belt
– Case study of Ovaliye village,
Sindhudurg Dist., Maharashtra
• Entire village (160 households) engaged in D.stocksii cultivation
• 200 truck loads marketed annually

28. D.stocksii – Preservative treatment for
enhancing durability in value added
products
• Vacuum pressure treatment (1.5kgcm-2) using CCB preservative for one hour

29. Intricate linkage of D.stocksii with farm,
household, industry and local markets in
Central Western Ghats

30. • D. stocksii – a truly multi-purpose spp.
• Consistent market demand
• High adaptability in semi-arid, sub-humid and humid
tropical conditions - Greater chances of popularization
• Multilocational trials in different agroclimatic zones
• Improvement work can focus on selecting genotypes
having value addition potential
• D.stocksii undoubtedly has an important socio-cultural
and economic role on par with recognized commercial
horticulture crops like coconut or mango
Has the Quest for an appropriate
bamboo spp. ended with D.stocksii ?

31. • Karnataka Forest Department for funding the
project
• Dean, College of Forestry, DBSKKV, Dapoli
• Director, IWST
Acknowledgement

32. Thank you for your kind attention…