Abstract

CONCHA, Juanita Y.; ALEGRE, Julio C.  and  POCOMUCHA, Vicente. Determination of carbon reservations in the aerial biomass of Agroforestry systems of theobroma cacao l. In the department of San Martin, Peru. Ecol. apl. [online]. 2007, vol.6, n.1-2, pp.75-82. ISSN 1726-2216.

This study assessed aerial biomass of six different agroforestry systems of cocoa (Theobroma cacao L.) associated with forest and fruit species with the objective of monitoring the potential of carbon sequestration in each system. The study was carried out in two different places located in the region of San Martin (San Martin and Mariscal Caceres). Ages of the different agroforestry systems were 5, 12 and 20 years. In each system quadrates of 100 m² randomly distributed were established to evaluate the total vegetative biomass. In order to determine the allometric equation of cocoa 7 plants of different ages (1 to 20 years) were sampled. The results in carbon capture in each agroforestry system varied from 26.2 t C ha^-1 for the 5 year Pachiza system and up to 45.07 t C ha^-1 for the 12 year Pachiza system Likewise, the capture of carbon in the biomass of the alive trees fluctuated from 12.09 t ha^-1 to 35.5 t ha^-1 , followed by the litter fall biomass with values of 4 t ha^-1 up to 9.97 t ha^-1; while the biomass of standing dead trees or dead felled trees were very low and variable in carbon content The agroforestry systems of 12 and 20 years represented 66.7% of the systems with carbon reservation above the 40 t ha^-1, while the 5 year-old systems presented reservations of carbon below the 30 t C ha^-1. The 5 year cocoa agroforestry system located in Juanjui and Pachiza presented the higher carbon flux generating greater economic benefit with the CO² equivalent credits.

Keywords : Carbon; Agroforestry systems; CO²; cacao; biomass; carbon credits.

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