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N. Bala , G. Singh , N. K. Bohra , K. R. Choudhary , R. K. Gupta

Abstract

A trial was initiated in July, 1995 to study the performance of Eucalyptus camaldulensis under different irrigation regimes on an arid sandy plain. Six treatment combinations of water quantity (W₁ and W₂) and watering frequency (I₁, I₂ and I₃) were imposed. Irrigation schedule was maintained on the basis of IW/CPE ratio (Irrigation water/cumulative pan evaporation). Plant growth and biomass at 40-month age was high in I₃W₂ treatment where 45/ 60 mm of water per irrigation was applied with a total of 1935 mm (36 applications). Inspite of receiving more irrigation water, (2040 mm in 53 applications) growth and biomass accumulation by plants in I₃W₁ was less in comparison to plants in I₃W₂ treatment. Irrigation increased total dry biomass by 9 fold in I₃W₂ treatment over I₁W₁ treatment. Analysis of variance showed significant difference both at 5% and 1% level between the treatments. Incremental growth followed more or less the same trend in the first and second year but in the third year no significant variation was observed among treatments signifying absence of any treatment effect. More than six fold higher water use efficiency (WUE) was recorded in I₃W₂ over I₁W₁. Soil organic matter and electrical conductivity decreased significantly in all the treatments whereas, significant increase in pH was observed after 40 month of plant growth. Results of the study show that quantity of water added per irrigation is more important than the total irrigation input. I₃W₂ treatment provided more soil volume with favourable moisture condition for ischolar_mains where wetted ischolar_maining zone was more and thus resulted in better growth and biomass production.

Keywords

Eucalyptus camaldulensis, Arid Zone, Biomass, Irrigation, Water Use Efficiency

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Ranjana Arya , K. R. Choudhary , R. R. Lohara

Abstract

Studies were conducted on saline- alkali soil in Jodhpur District of Rajasthan State with different exotic and indigenous plant species using different types of mound techniques i.e. Double ridge mound (DRM)&Circular dished mound (CDM). Gypsum was applied @ 100% soilGR along with FYM (3Kg) and SSP (15 g) at the time of planting. Sueda nudiflora was found to be the best species on the basis of survival and growth in all the three treatments followed by Atriplex lentiformis and Atriplex stocksii. Both mound practices, CDM and DRM, recorded significantly higher survival and growth as compared to control during 36 months of establishment. There was no difference in height of all the three species between CDM and DRM structures, however, for crown diameter CDM structure gave higher value as compared to DRM structure. Among tree species Acacia colei has shown potential by maintaining 89% survival on DRM in a drought year.

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G. N. Gupta , N. Bala , K. R. Choudhary

Abstract

To investigate the influence of different run-off harvesting and conservation techniques on soil moisture storage, growth and biomass production of Prosopis cineraria (khejri), a field experiment was carried out at Arid Forest Research Institute, Jodhpur with eight treatments such as; Control, Weed removal, Weed removal + soil working, Saucers of 1.0 m diameter, Saucers of 1.5 m diameter, Saucers of 1.5 m diameter covered with mulching around the trees, Bunding around each tree in checker board design and Inter row ridges of 20% slope. The saucer of 1.5 m diameter was found to be the best treatment which improved soil moisture storage considerably, caused eight times increase in total biomass of 26 month old khejri plantation (from 4.49 to 37.16 q ha^-1), doubled the ischolar_main mass (4.33 to 9.66 q ha^-1) and caused 30 per cent increase in tree height. The technique of inter row slopes was also equally effective. Gain in tree growth due to other water harvesting treatments was relatively lower, though significant when compared with control. The weeding treatment improved the growth of khejri by two folds. Various treatments improved the water use efficiency of khejri by two to eight times as compared to 4.78 kg cm^-1 ha^-1 in control.

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G. N. Gupta , K. R. Choudhary , Bilas Singh , A. K. Mishra

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted to study the influence of different techniques of rain water harvesting on establishment of Neem (Azadirachta indica) at the research farm of Arid Forest Research Institute, Jodhpur. The various treatment were: Control, Weed removal (W.R.), Weed removal + Soil working (S.W.), W.R.+S.W. +Saucers of 1.0 m dia, W.R.+ S W.+Saucers of 15m dis, W. R. +S. W. +mulching in saucers around the plants, water conservation structuns in checker board design and water conservation structures as inter row slopes of 20 per cent. Out of the eight treatments, the inter row slopes of 20 per cent caused significantly higber moisture conservation in the ischolar_main zone (40 per cent higher than the control) which resulted in better growth of neem (296 cm tall trees than 203 cm in control at ]8 month age). The treatment of weed removal alone caused tree heigbt improvement by 26 per cent over control. The weed removal helped conserving 20 per cent higher moisture than control. The practices of mulching and making saucers also improved the tree growth considerably. The coefficients of correlation between per cent increase in collar girth was 0.73 and with per cent increase in tree hight was 0.48.

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