Estimation and Comparison of Carbon Balance of Two Crop Species (Tea and Cinnamon) Grown In WL₂ Agro Ecological Zone In Sri Lanka

Abstract

Atmospheric C02 levels have been escalated due to increasing population, industrialization and subsequent energy use since the start of the 20th century. Carbon sequestration via plants has high potential to reduce climate change. Carbon Footprint (CFP) is often used as an indicator for GHG emissions of an organization, a person or a product through their life time. Agriculture sector is important as a carbon emmiter as well as a carbon sequester because it demends energy for their agronomic practices as well as processing. In this study, the total carbon balance o f small scale Tea (Camellia sinensisL.) and Cinnamon (Cinnamon zeylanicum) plantations were estimated. Net C balance is defined as the difference between carbon sequestered in the soil and the total carbon emissions from all farm inputs and operations. Twenty five years old tea plantation and eight years old cinnamon plantation were selected to estim ate the carbon balance. Average carbon sequestration of tea grown in WL2 agro ecological zone was estimated 3 .4 5 3 0 1 C02-e/ha/yr. The CFP of tea and cinnamon were 2.6855 t C02 -e /ha/yr and 0.1922 t /ha/yr, respectively. Carbon balance of tea and cinnamon were 0.7675 and 3.8478 C02 -e/ha/yr, respectively.