Biomass and Productivity in Short Rotation Eucalyptus tereticornis Srn. Seed Sources Grown in Sub-humid Dry Tropical Environment of India

Abstract

The present paper describes the biomass and productivity of seven seed sources of Eucalyptus teretecomis grown in three years old short rotation in sub-humid dry tropical environment of India. The above ground biomass ranged between 9.99 t ha^-1 to 21.69 t ha^-1. The higher proportion of above ground biomass was allocated to bole (60.4-63.3 %) followed by branch (including twigs) (12-0-14.5 %) and foliage (4.1-4.8 %). The above ground herbaceous biomass varied from 1.3 to 2.5 t ha^-1, which was maximum under Australian seed source and minimum under Sitanadi sanctuary seed source. The below ground (coarse roots + fine roots) biomass in different seed sources of Eucalyptus varied from 2.6 t ha^-1 to 5.3 t ha^-1 with highest being in Raipur & lowest in Australia seed sources. The total stand biomass varied from 12.6 t ha^-1 to 26.9 t ha^-1 and was also highest in Raipur & lowest in Australia seed sources. The annual net primary productivity of trees varied from 4.9-to 10.8 t ha^-1 yr^{-1 Â} Of the total net tree production the above ground trees accounted for 81 percent and below ground net production was 19 percent. The above ground herbaceous shoots contributed 10-33 percent to the total NPP. Except for fine roots component-wise analysis of variance for both the attributes viz., biomass and net primary productivity were significantly different across all the seven seed sources of Eucalyptus teretecomis. On short term basis it can be concluded that the seed sources collected from Raipur, Kondagaon & Kolkata origin are superior over others and hence, they can be recommended for plantation in Chhattisgarh region.