Studies On Staple Food Bamboo And Its Characteristics Of Giant Panda In The Qinling Mountains

Bamboo, the main food of Giant Panda, is the material foundation of Giant Panda survival. The classification, distribution, growth characteristics and nutritional status of bamboo plants were studied roundly and deeply by the means of setting up plots, carrying out investigations, collecting samples and analytical detection in the nature reserves of inhabitation of Giant Panda in the Qinling mountains which were divided into the core region, transition region and potential region at the basis of the early research. The main results were as follows:1. The staple food bamboo of Giant Panda in the Qinling mountains can be identified as 7 species in 5 genera which were Chimonobambusa angustifolia belong to the genus Chimonobambusa, Bashania fargesii to Bashania, Indocalamus latifolius to Indocalamus, Fargesia qinlingnsis, F.dracocephala and F.nitida to Fargesia, Phyllostachys sulphurea to Phyllostachys. The distribution area is about 289704 hm2, which accounted for 83.28% of the total habitate area of Giant Panda in Shaanxi Province. Of those, the area of F. qinlingnsis occupied 127322 hm2 for 36.60%, followed by 105786 hm2 for 30.41% of B. fargesii and 33362 hm2 for 9.59 % of F.dracocephala of the he total habitate area of Giant Panda in Shaanxi Province. The Ph. sulphurea was the least distribution species, only 57 hm2 for 0.016%.2. The geographic distribution of the staple food bamboo shows a obvious law. In the aspect of vertical distribution, B. fargesii distributed in the low altitude area of 800～2100m, while the F. qinlingnsis were existed in the altitude area of 2000～2900m. F.dracocephala were mainly distributed in the Fuping and Ningshan county in the altitude area of 1100～2300m which is the staple food of Giant Panda in this area. In the aspect of horizontal distribution, F. qinlingnsis and F.dracocephala distributed in east area, a great number of F. qinlingnsis and B. fargesii with a little of F.dracocephala distributed in middle and west area in the Qinling mountains.3. The growth characteristics of staple food bamboo of Giant Panda in the Qinling mountains show that: the differences of height and base diameter in the different species and ages of staple food bamboo were not significant but the differences between height and base diameter were significant. The differences of height and base diameter of F. qinlingnsis in the different altitude area were very significant. The population density of bamboo shoots and annual growth bamboos were higher than the elder bamboo forest while the perennial bamboos were lower. The biomass of young bamboo forest was less than half of the elder.4. The nutrient contents of staple food bamboos of Gaint Panda varied significantly thanks to the differences of species, ages, positions and altitude height. F. qinlingnsis is the richest species, and followed by B. fargesii and F.dracocephala. The contents of crude protein, fats and total sugar in the leaves were higher, which were the richest position of bamboos, followed by bamboo shoots and bamboo rod. The contents of crude protein, fats and fibers of F. qinlingnsis had significant differences in the different altitude height while the total sugar had no significant difference.5. The contents of trace elements K and Ca in the three staple food bamboo( F. qinlingnsis, B. fargesii and F.dracocephala)were high and followed by Mg and Fe, but Mn, Zn, Cu were relative low. The leaves were the highest position of trace elements in the whole bamboo, followed by bamboo shoots and bamboo rods. From the perspectives of trace elements, B. fargesii was the best.6. 17 amino acids existed in the staple food bamboo and the content of Glu was highesr, with the content of 0.883%, followed by Asp, Leu, Phe, Val, Ala, Lys, Gly, Pro, Thr, Ile, Arg, Ser, Met, His andT yr, the contents were 0.785%, 0.570%, 0.516%, 0.505%, 0.451%, 0.411%, 0.389%, 0.363%, 0.349%, 0.342%, 0.34%, 0.321%, 0.166%, 0.155% and 0.132%. The content of Cys was the lowest, only 0.115%. The nutritive value of leaves was significant higher than that of rods. The first limited amino acid of F. qinlingnsis was Met and Cys, while others were Lys.