R. S. Mertia , M. Nagarajan

Abstract

The Indian desert flora has an important place in the field of desert floristics , as it support western as well as eastern elements along with higher percentage of endemic plants. There are numerous plant species which are confined to western bulge of our country and are less known at this point of time in other areas. However species viz; Commiphora wightii (Gugal) and Tephrosia falciformis (Rati Biyani) are now under application in the field of medicine. Besides mitigating the ethno-medicinal needs of the desert peasantry , these species offer potential for conservation and optimum use in the field of medicines. The results of the present study clearly infer the possibilities of conservation of the some of the species investigated. However , detailed study on their physio-chemical composition would provide more information on the economic values of individual plant species. Efforts are continuing on investigation of many more species , which would provide valuable information on different aspects of conservation , and propagation of endemic species for better eco-environment in the extreme arid regions along with their medicinal value.

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R. S. Mertia , T. K. Kunhamu

Abstract

No abstract

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M. Nagarajan , R. S. Mertia

Abstract

An experiment was conducted to determine the effect of sowing depth and seed size on germination and growth of Colophospermum mopane. Out of the three seed sizes and four depth of sowing large sized seed sown at 5 mm depth showed significant increase in mean germination per cent, daily germination, germination value, shoot/ischolar_main length and dry matter production than the other two type of seeds viz.,elongated small size and round shape seeds sown at deeper depth. The study revealed that shallow sowing depth and large seeds can be used for better nursery raising for this species

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R. S. Mertia , N. K. Sinha , Priyabrata Santra , Daleep Singh

Abstract

Series of trials on Salvadora oleoides were conducted to standardize the package of practices for large-scale raising of seedlings for afforestation programmes in the Indian Thar desert with the major focus on the influence of seed size and sowing depth on seedling emergence and subsequent growth. Among different combinations of seed size and sowing depth, large sized seeds (≥0.04 g) planted at 0.5 cm depth showed significantly higher emergence per centage, seedling height, leaves plant, and dry weight of seedling than other seed size and sowing depth combinations. The study revealed that placement of large sized seeds at shallow depth may result in successful raising of this species in nursery and thus may help in successful implementation of afforestation programmes in the Indian Thar desert.

Keywords

Salvadora Oleoides, Seed Size, Planting Depth, Seedling Emergence, Seedling Height, Seedling Weight, Leaves

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