A woody grass Bamboo belongs to the sub family Bambusoideae of the family Poaceae. Being one of the fastest growing species Bamboo is also known as "Green Gold". This green gold is available in abundance and adequately cheap to cater the huge requirements of human population from the "child cradle to the dead man's bier" that is why occasionally; it is also known as "poor man's timber." There are more than 1,250 species under 75 genera of bamboo available worldwide, which are unevenly

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... d in the various part of the humid tropical, sub tropical and temperate region of the earth (Subramaniam, 1998). India is extremely prosperous in terms of bamboo diversity. There are 124 indigenous and exotic species under 23 genera, found naturally and or under cultivation (Naithani, 1993). An estimated 8.6 million ha forest area of the country contains bamboo (Rai and Chauhan, 1998) Bamboo normally grows as the small forest within the natural forests. It is found to be grown practically in the tropical sub-tropical and temperate region where the annual rainfall ranges between 1,200 mm to 4,000 mm and the temperature varies between 16oC and 38oC. The most suitable conditions for the occurrence of bamboo are found between 770-1,080 meter above sea level. However, two thirds of the growing stock of bamboo in the country is available in the north-eastern states with supports about 50% of the total bamboo being tropical moist region.