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PRINT ISSN : 2319-7692
Online ISSN : 2319-7706 Issues : 12 per year Publisher : Excellent Publishers Email : editorijcmas@gmail.com / submit@ijcmas.com Editor-in-chief: Dr.M.Prakash Index Copernicus ICV 2018: 95.39 NAAS RATING 2020: 5.38 |
The tree farming is ecologically as well as economically more viable than traditional agriculture. Investment in tree plantations always remained relatively low in India, inspite of the fact that the existing forests cannot continue to meet our wood requirements. However, realizing the existing problem, the expenditure on afforestation has increased enormously from fifth five year plan onwards but still the results on the land are not encouraging and we have not been able to increase area as well as the forest productivity to the desired level. The misery caused to the entire nation due to unprecedented eco-degradation is enormous and warrants immediate remedial measures. To counteract the impending crisis, use of fast growing tree species managed with intensive cultural operations especially in tree farming have opened up new vistas in wood biomass production. Against this backdrop, the current study was planned to screen and identify superior genetic resources of Eucalyptus for higher pulp yield and wood volume. Twenty seven clones in three Eucalyptus species viz., Eucalyptus camaldulensis, Eucalyptus tereticornis and E. urophylla were subjected for pulp quality analysis. The clone EC 48 has been characterized for wood quality towards its amenability for paper and biomass based power generation industries and the results are very encouraging. The clone expressed the Pulp yield of 48%, Kappa number 19.3 and Lignin content of 23.20% which expressed superiority over the local seed sources. Similarly, this clone expressed acceptable strength properties viz., Burst index (5.0 K Pa m2 g-1), Tear (8.20 m Nm2 g-1) and tensile index (80.0 Nm g-1) which are again proved superior. The wood characterization for energy properties indicated that the clone EC MTP 48 had higher Calorific value of 4314 kcal/kg, Fuel value index of 142.58 and Heating value of 30.27 MJkg-1 and extend scope for its amenability towards biomass based energy utility. For biomass based energy utility, the clone can be harvested at the rotation age of 3 years and hence extend greater scope for High Density Short Rotation (HDSR) Energy Plantations. The productivity studies revealed that three clones viz., EC MTP 48, EC MTP 47 and EC MTP 41 recorded superiority in terms of growth characteristics viz., diameter at breast height, height and volume. The phenotypic and genotypic coefficient of variance estimates were low too high in range and volume recorded the highest PCV and GCV. The heritability values were high for all the traits investigated. Considering the pulp quality and productivity conjointly, the clone EC MTP 48 proved superior and this study recommends the suitability of EC MTP 48 for pulpwood plantation programme.