Informatics Publishing Limited

K. T. Parthiban , R. Seenivasan , M. Govinda Rao

Abstract

The State of Tamil Nadu is housed with 39 paper mills of which two mills viz., Tamil Nadu Newsprint and Papers Ltd, Karur and Seshasayee Paper Board, Erode are the wood based paper industries. These two industries utilize around 4 lakh tonnes of woody biomass, which are mostly derived from Casuarina and Eucalyptus plantations of Tamil Nadu Forest Plantation Corporation and partly from farm lands. But recently, both the mills have expanded their paper production, which requires nearly 8-10 lakhs tonnes of wood pulp against the current availability of nearly 3.5 -4.0 lakh tonnes. This ushered in a large gap between the demand and supply, thus necessitates alternate sources for raw material. To meet the growing demands and also to promote pulp wood plantations as per the guidelines of 1988 forest policy, both the industries have initiated farm and agroforestry plantations through contract farming system by adopting tri and quad-partite models. In this system, Casuarina and Eucalyptus have been promoted as pulp wood plantations. The contract farming facilitates supply of quality planting materials to the farmers at subsidized prices coupled with assurance of minimum support price and credit facilities through financial institutions. This paper discusses the success of contract farming along with the area covered under various districts of the state.

Keywords

Contract Farming, Farm Forestry/Agroforestry Plantations, Casuarina, Eucalyptus, Paper Industry

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P. S. Shanmugam , R. Seenivasan

Abstract

Eucalyptus vegetative mass production has been advanced through the adoption of many improved methods. The suitability of vegetative mass propagation using minicuttings derived from the minihedges grown in the sand beds was evaluated. The study reveals the superiority of this technique over the regular stem cuttings from the open clonal multiplication area. The minicuttings of Eucalyptus camaldulensis (ITC 413, TNPL 103) and Eucalyptus tereticornis (ITC 3, TNPL 106) clones recorded more than 80% survival in the mist chamber, whereas the stem cuttings from the open CMA of the same clones recorded only 50% survival.The use of growth substances were completely eliminated in the minicuttings.Among the treatment periods T₂(21 days in the mist chamber) proved to be highly effective for the Eucalyptus mass production through the mini cutting method. Except shoot length the other parameters like survival percentage in the mist chamber, 50% shade house, ischolar_main length and number of lateral ischolar_mains was more in T₂ compare to other treatments.The juvenility and nutrient status of the mother plants influences the survival ability of the minicuttings in the mist chamber. The present study reveals the suitability of minicutting clonal production method for E. camaldulensis and E. tereticornis clones in the Indian condition.

Keywords

Minicutting, Minihedge, Juvenility, E. Camaldulensis, E. Tereticornis

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J. Prasanth Jacob ¹, K. Senthil ¹, V. Sivakumar ¹, R. Seenivasan ², P. Chezhian ², N. Krishna Kumar ¹

Affiliations
1 Institute of Forest Genetics and Tree Breeding, Coimbatore-641002, Tamil Nadu, IN
2 Tamilnadu News Print and Papers Limited, Kagathipuram, Karur, Tamil Nadu- 639136, IN

Abstract

The invasive gall wasp Leptocybe invasa (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae) induces galls on the shoots of Eucalyptus camaldulensis Dehnh. and E. tereticornis Sm. and damage nursery seedlings young plantations and coppice shoots. The magnitude of the damage in nurseries and young plantations necessitates increased efforts to reduce the incidence and impacts of the pest. Identification of feasible and appropriate management methods will help in reducing the high cost of containing the pest in outbreak situations and avoid loss of planting material by state Forest Departments, Corporations and farmers while raising commercial Eucalyptus plantations. Deployment of gall tolerant clones and biological control agents has been attempted in the present study. Results show that eucalyptus gall wasp in nurseries can be managed by deploying identified gall tolerant, productive clones. Release of natural enemies like Quadrastichus mendeli and Megastigmus sp and regular monitoring of its population level in nurseries can further bring down the gall infestation.

Keywords

Invasive Species, Eucalyptus, Gall, Biological Control, Parasite, Resistance.

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