**2.2 Bamboo**

Bamboo is abundantly found in most parts of the world, nearly 0.92 % of the total forest area, spread over 36 million hectares (MHa) [12]. Globally, bamboo has 111 genera with more than 1575 species. India is very rich in bamboo resources and the second major bamboo producing country having 16 MHa (22.46 %) of a total forest cover 71.2 MHa [13] comprising of 160 species after China. China is the richest in bamboo resources; it has more than 800 species [14, 15]. The bamboo is used for various industrial purposes [16–18]. Bamboo species thrives in almost all types of soil except in very dry soils. The bamboo is utilized for various purposes, viz. agriculture, handicraft, building industry (bamboo concrete, scaffoldings, house construction, etc.), interior decoration (Bamboo flooring board, mat, panelling, curtain, etc.), paper industry, textile industry, food, bamboo charcoal, and diverse range of daily use articles (toothpicks, chopsticks, incense sticks, etc.) [19–22]. Bamboo is a typical natural composite material with functionally gradient structure having multi-nodes, and the fibres are arranged compactly in the outer surface region in a definite fashion in comparison to inner surface region which provides fracture toughness. The fracture toughness of the bamboo culm depends on the volume fraction of fibres [23–28].
