Study on Bamboo Shooting and Shoot Growth of Cephalostachyum pingbianense

Objective Cephalostachyum pingbianense is an excellent edible bamboo species endemic to southern Yunnan Province of China. So far, C. pingbianense is the only bamboo species recorded as producing shoots in all year under natural conditions. The purpose of this study is to investigate the biological characteristics of shooting and the growth pattern of young bamboos.

Method The data of bamboo shooting number, degraded shoot number, culm height, diameters of shoot and young culms were collected from 30 clumps of C. pingbianense, and analyzed using SPSS software.

Result (1) The shooting duration of C. pingbianense lasted for about 9 months (from September to next May). According to the quantity of bamboo shoots, the shooting duration could be divided into three stages, i.e., the early stage, the peak stage and late stage. The most shoots occurred in winter while the least occurred in summer. Five clumps (16.67%) produced bamboo shoots in each season, displaying the characteristics of producing bamboo shoot in all the four seasons. (2) The percentage of the degraded shoot increased gradually during the shooting period, and reached the maximum (87.76%) at the late stage. (3) The height growth of young bamboo culms lasted about 130 days, with an average height of 6.36 m. A growth pattern of "slow-fast-slow" was found at the period of the height growth of young bamboo culms, and the growth curve could be described with an equation:H=0.806-0.029t+0.001t²-5.894×10-6t³ (R²=0.980). (4) The diameter growth of young culms at the ground lasted about 16 days, with an average diameter of 18.50 mm. The diameter growth of young culms also accorded with the pattern of "slow-fast-slow".

Conclusion C. pingbianense could produce bamboo shoot all the year round, with a 9 months shooting period, however, the shoot quantity in each season is different significantly. The culm height and culm diameter at the ground accorded with a pattern of "slow-fast-slow".