Traditional Methods of Post Harvest Bamboo Treatment for Durability Enhancement

Abstract, International Journal of Scientific and Engineering Research, 2017 January

Bamboos like all lignocellusic biomass are susceptible to biodegradation which reduce its durability. Post harvest preservation of bamboo culms is important for enhancement of its service life. But the durability of bamboo also depends on its age, species, moisture content, climatic condition and nutrient content. There is little information available under traditional preservation of bamboo in northeast India. This paper describes the traditional methods of preservation of Bambusa tulda by water soaking, curing and smoking. The efficacy of water soaking method was tested in the laboratory conditions by using Schizophyllum cummuni and Graveyard test. The average biomass loss of bamboo culms during the tests ranges from 10.81% (1 month treated) to 19.26 % (control) and 25.99% (1 month treated) and 67.66% (control) respectively and these values increases as the soaking period increases. It was found that soaking of bamboo in water for one month is optimum for enhancing the durability.