Biomass, organic carbon and mineral matter contents of abaca (Musa textilis Nee) at different stages of growth

This study was conducted to measure the biomass, organic carbon and mineral matter contents of abaca at different stages of growth as baseline information for material cycling of the plant. These were attained through destructive sampling of the identified sample plants. Different parameters such as moisture content, dry matter, organic carbon and mineral matter contents were determined. Regression and correlation analyses were also conducted to find out possible relationship between growth parameters and plant biomass. Biomass contents ranged from 11 to 21% regardless of the growth stages of abaca. Based on the weight of partitioned components, biomass, organic carbon and mineral matter contents (g/plant) of all tissues increased as the growth of abaca plant progressed. Pseudostem tissue showed the highest percent moisture content but it also showed the highest biomass (dry weight per plant) during the vegetative and flagleaf stages of growth. The pseudostem biomass accounted nearly two-thirds of the above-ground biomass at harvesting stage in the production system. Cumulative effect could be disadvantageous and would most likely result to nutrient imbalance in the system due to crop removal and nutrient mining. A strong relationship was found between biomass and pseudostem length (r = 0.997). (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.