Early Rotation Shoot Production of Bamboo (Phyllostachys sp.) On An Upland Soil.

Bamboo is the common name of a large group of relatively fast growing woody grasses in the tribe Bambuseae.  Bamboo has been used historically for numerous applications, and there is emerging interest in bamboo as a biofuel, but cost effective means of large scale field establishment are needed.  Our objective was to determine feasibility of establishing four Phyllostachys species from bare, washed rhizomes on an upland site in west-central Arkansas.  Rhizomes 0.3-m long of P. bissetii, P. propinqua, P. purpurata, and P. rubromarginata were planted in a fallow soybean field in late February 2007 in a three row plot (about 170 buds plot^-1) with 1 m spacing of rhizomes within rows and 5 m between rows.  Only minimal applications of fertilizer, herbicides, and irrigation were applied during the study.  Number of primary shoots was counted weekly during March to June 2007, and once in June 2008 and May 2009.  During establishment in 2007, maximum emergence of primary shoots (10-20% of total planted buds) occurred in late April to mid May.  Species did not differ in number of primary shoots in 2007 or 2008, but ranked in the order P. bissetii (130) = P. rubromarginata (113) > P. purpurata (54) > P. propinqua (8) in primary shoots plot^-1 in 2009.  Thus, P. bissetii, P. rubromarginata, and P. purpurata established fairly well and better than P. propinqua on the upland site.  Further, the comparatively high, early rotation shoot production of P. bissetii and P. rubromarginata under minimal management suggest the eventual production of significant aboveground biomass.  Greater rhizome planting density and more management inputs might decrease time to first biomass harvest and increase shoot production.