Mohit Gera , Neelu Gera , Rashmi Agarwal , B. N. Gupta

Abstract

Twenty seed sources of Dalbergia sisson Roxb. Scattered over a wide range of its occurrence in India were studied for the pattern of variation in micro leaf characters, viz., upper stomatal frequency, lower stomatal frequency, upper stomatal size and lower stomatal size under scanning electron microscope (SEM). The subjective observations were also recorded on other micro leaf characters such as nature and type of cuticle, stomatal openings and presence of macro/micro-hairs. The results revealed the presence of highly significant variations among the characters studied. All the quantitative characters observed under SEM showed higher values for genotypic variance and genotypic coefficient of variation as compared to the corresponding values of environmental variance and environmental caefficient of variation. There were also accompanied by high values of heritability and large amounts of genetic gain, indicating that these parameters are under strong genetic control, which can be exploited successfully for selection and further genetic improvement in this species. Lower values of stomatal frequency on lower leaf surface were recorded in the seed sources from Muzaffarnagar, Lucknow, Hyderabad and Kanpur, which has performed well in the filed. This is explained by the fact that the low stomatal frequency ofthe lower surface has led to conservation of moisture in the plants being tested under un-irrigated and semi-arid conditions. This has resulted into enhanced growth in these seed sources. The thickness of cuticle also appears to have contributed to the control of water loss from the underlying cells.

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Bipin Behari , Rashmi Agarwal , A. K. Singh , S. K. Banerjee

Abstract

Spatial variability of surface soil pH and organic carbon was studied in perpendicular transects at sites in near Jabalpur (M.P.) put to bamboo based agroforestry models and compared to control for two continuous years. The land under present study was degraded and occurs in a continuous path. Though, there was no systematic pattern of variation of values of pH and organic carbon in different directions, there was slightly less variability in North-South direction as compared to East-West direction. Overall, heterogeneity was found to be more in the first year than second year (i.e two seasons of agro-forestry land use). Shrubs and herbs invaded through bamboo based agroforestry practices in the degraded sites form the center of influence from which soil properties vary spatially.

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Mohit Gera , Neelu Gera , Rashmi Agarwal , B. N. Gupta

Abstract

Twenty seed sources of Dalbergia sissoo Roxb. scattered over a wide range ofits occurrence in India were studied for the pattern of biochemical characters in foliage , viz. , total protein , proline , polyphenols , starch and total carbohydrate. The results revealed the presence of highly significant variations among the characters studied except starch content. Genotypic coefficients of variance and variability were large compared to the environmental coefficients of variance and variability for total protein , proline , polyphenols and total carbohydrate , indicating that these are under genetic control. Starch content was observed to be under the influence of environment. The estimates of heritability and expected genetic gain were high for all characters , except starch content , which registered lower values of heritability and genetic gain. The correlations of starch content with survival and growth at phenotypic level were positive and significant. The seed sources from Lucknow and Muzaffarnagar exhibited good performance and are recommended for immediate planting programmes in this region.

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Neelu Gera , Mohit Gera , Mamta Purohit , Rashmi Agarwal

Abstract

In order to estimate intra-population variability, some mother trees of Albizia procera of Jabalpur (Madhya Pradesh) region were evaluated for their pod, seed and germination characteristics. Significant variation within the population was recorded with respect to almost all morphological characters of pod, seed and germination. Large amount of variation was observed in mother trees dbh, seed weight per pod, percentage of deformed seed, germination per cent, percentage of hard and dead seed and field emergence. No significant relationship between mother tree dbh and any of the parameter studied was observed except for percentage of hard seed. Selection of superior trees based on germination testing in addition to tree characters like dbh has been emphasised for quality seed collection.

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Bipin Behari , Rashmi Agarwal , A. K. Singh , S. K. Banerjee

Abstract

The phyto-sociological aspects of the highly degraded basaltic tract of Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh were studied to assess the impact of Agro-forestry models of Bamboo cultivation with the short term agricultural crops on the restoration of ecology. The ground flora was recorded at four Agro-forestry sites with a control in October, 1996 and 1997. The results obtained from the study revealed that there was considerable increase in number of species, diversity index and species richness as compared to control in both the years. The increase was more conspicuous in the second year. Poaceae was found to be the dominant family on all the sites. Reduction in number of species at the control site has been attributed to the heavy biotic interference. The ecological parameters studied revealed that the degraded agricultural lands can be ecological restored and improved fast through the development of Bamboo based Agro-forestry models.

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Mohit Gera , Neelu Gera , Rashmi Agarwal

Abstract

In the integrated structure of the plant, the overall correlation observed between two variables is a function of a series of direct and indirect relationships between different variables. To understand the specific forces in building up the total correlation towards productivity in case of Dalbergia sissoo, Path coefficients analysis was carried out. Fourteen characters were included to find out their direct and indirect effects on field height (i.e. productivity). The analysis revealed that the characters polyphenol, number of branches, pod length and germination per cent had higher direct or indirect effects on field height and could be collectively used as selection criteria for improving productivity in Dalbergia sissoo.

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Sajad Razvi , Rashmi Agarwal , S. Nautiyal , M. Ayoub Dar

Abstract

The policy directives issued by the government of India from time to time since the announcement of the National Forest Policy, 1988 indicate the existence of a 'learning curve' in the process of implementation of JFM in India. This paper gives an account about the status of Joint Forest Management (JFM) in the Kamraj Forest Division, Zangli Kupwara of Jammu and Kashmir. The land holding pattern in the state is totally different from the other states as, most of the land belongs to forest department. The JFM was formallv adopted in Jamp;K State by issuing a notification SRO 61 dated 19-03-1992. The concept of JFM caught up in the State through formation of VFCs. At present IS99 VFCs are functioning over the state, both with social forestry projects and the territorial wings of forest department and around 10000 ha of land is under rehabilitation with the assistance and participation of VFCs. In Kamraj Forest Division, 58 VFC's are working and an area of1500 ha land has been rehabilited by National Afforestration Programme from 2003 to 2007.

Keywords

Joint Forest Management, Forest Development Agencies, Village Forest Committees, National Afforestation Programme

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