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Aboveground biomass allometric equations and carbon content of the shea butter tree (Vitellaria paradoxa C.F. Gaertn., Sapotaceae) components in Sudanian savannas (West Africa)

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Abstract

Vitellaria paradoxa is one of the most economically important trees in West Africa. Although being a key component of most sub-Sahara agroforestry systems, little information and argument exist regarding its biomass and carbon potential. Here, we developed biomass equations for V. paradoxa tree components in Sudanian savannas. A destructive sampling approach was applied, which was based on measuring stem, branch and foliage biomass of thirty individual trees selected from a wide spectrum of diameter at breast height (dbh) and tree height (h). Basal diameter (d20), dbh, h and crown diameter (cd) were measured and used as predictors in biomass equations. Carbon content was estimated using the ash method. Variance explained in biomass allometric equations ranged from 81 to 98%, and was lower for foliage than for branch and stem biomass models, suggesting that leaf allometries are less responsive to tree size than branch and stem allometries. Stem biomass was best predicted by d20, branch biomass by dbh, and leaf biomass by crown diameter. For aboveground biomass, adding height to dbh as compound variable (dbh2 × h) did not make any significant change, as compared with model based on dbh alone. However, adding crown diameter to dbh and height reduced the error by 15% and improved model fits. Carbon contents in V. paradoxa foliage, branch and stem were 55.29, 55.37 and 55.82%, respectively, and higher than reference value suggested by the IPCC. Established allometric equations can be used to accurately predict aboveground biomass of the species in the Sudanian savannas of West Africa.

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Acknowledgements

The authors express their gratitude to the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) through the program WASCAL (West African Science Service Center on Climate Change and Adapted Land Use, www.wascal.org) for funding this research. The authors are very grateful to the Ministry of Environment of Burkina Faso for the permission to cut trees in the study sites, and to work in protected areas. Our thanks are extended to the field assistants and local people who helped in data collection. Finally, we would like to thank the anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments that greatly improved this article.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. UFR-SVT, Laboratory of Plant Biology and Ecology, University Ouaga1 Pr Joseph Ki-Zerbo, 03 B.P. 7021, Ouagadougou 03, Burkina Faso

    Kangbéni Dimobe, Amadé Ouédraogo & Adjima Thiombiano

  2. Department of Botany, Institute of Biological Sciences, University of Rostock, 18051, Rostock, Germany

    Kangbéni Dimobe, Dethardt Goetze & Stefan Porembski

  3. Laboratory of Botany and Plant Ecology, Department of Botany, University of Lomé, P.O. Box 1515, Lomé, Togo

    Kangbéni Dimobe & Koffi Akpagana

  4. Laboratory of Biomathematics and Forest Estimations, University of Abomey-Calavi, 03 B.P. 2819, Abomey-Calavi, Benin

    Sylvanus Mensah

  5. Department of Forest and Wood Science, Stellenbosch University, Matieland, South Africa

    Sylvanus Mensah

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  1. Kangbéni Dimobe
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Dimobe, K., Goetze, D., Ouédraogo, A. et al. Aboveground biomass allometric equations and carbon content of the shea butter tree (Vitellaria paradoxa C.F. Gaertn., Sapotaceae) components in Sudanian savannas (West Africa). Agroforest Syst 93, 1119–1132 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10457-018-0213-y

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