Intensive management is a common practice in bamboo plantations to ensure higher shoot yields. However, the effects of these management practices on ramet systems are understudied. A pot experiment was conducted to explore the process of propagation for potted bamboo seedlings (Phyllostachys praecox C. D. Chu et C. S. Chao “Prevernalis”) from a single mother bamboo to a ramet system exposed to a chronosequence of intensively managed bamboo forest soils. The ramet system of potted bamboo seedlings reached seven branching grades after two growth cycles. During ramet system expansion, the rhizome length and rhizome internodes decreased with increasing branching grade and the extension of intensive management periods. In the bud bank for each branching grade, the front branching grade was dominated by the bud output, which was conducive to consolidating the occupied living space. The back branching grade was dominated by bud input to continue rhizome penetration. With increasing branching, the mulching soil significantly inhibited rhizome bud germination and dormant bud accumulation. The mulching soil was not conducive to branch expansion in the ramet system, and ramet system expansion was predominantly based on the branching of the rhizome modules. With increasing branching and the extension of intensive management periods, rhizome branches decreased markedly. Our findings indicate that bamboo mulching inhibits branching and causes a differential reaction in branching types. The long-term mulching of bamboo forest soil was not conducive to the healthy and sustainable growth of bamboo. These results provide a basis for further research on the relationship between the bamboo ramet system and its productivity, as well as the population construction and maintenance mechanisms of bamboo ramet systems in the field.

A study of the response of the bud population in bamboo forests to intensive human disturbance revealed the regulation potential of the bud bank for the regeneration of bamboo populations under mulching cultivation. Differences in bud bank composition and budflow characteristics of Phyllostachys praecox Z. D. Chu et C. S. Chao ‘Prevernalis’ S. Y. Chen et C. Y. Yao were compared to explore the impact of highly intensive management on the characteristics of bamboo forest bud populations under different mulching cultivation periods. The results indicated that the soil depth at which the bud bank of bamboo forests grew decreased significantly due to intensive management during mulching cultivation. The longer the mulching time, the smaller the total number of buds, the greater the bud mortality, and the weaker the bud-input and bud-output abilities. After long-term mulching, the rates of bamboo forest bud-storage and bud dormancy decreased, output and mortality rates increased, and the bud-input rate increased, although the maximum bud-input rate was smaller than that for un-mulched areas. It was found that mulching cultivation of bamboo forests broke rhizome lateral-bud dormancy, resulting in high-intensity bud-output. Therefore, restoration of declining bamboo populations demands the increase of bud-input and the reduction of bud-output, in order to promote sustainable management of bamboo forests.