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Forestry research activities

11.Nursery Research

Nursery research works undertaken by the research wing of the Karnataka Forest Department are as follows:

	Species performance under different water regimes.
	Species performance under the influence of different doses of fertilizers.
	Species performance under different proportion of ingredients.
	Standardization of Nursery techniques for different species.
	Correlation between root and shoot ratio of different species.

11.1 Development of Nursery Techniques

In the case of a few important MFP yielding species like Terminalia chebula, Semecarpus anacardium and Diospyros melanoxylon the germination percentage is found to be very low. In addition to this, germination takes place after a long period of time when sown by usual methods. With a view to increasing the germination percentage and decreasing the germination period, various methods like hot water treatment, acid scarification, stratification, Potassium Nitrate treatment etc were tried.

Various seed treatments used for different species

Treatment	Period for Germination	Germination Percentage
a. Terminalia chebula
• When seeds (fruits) are directly dibbled without any treatment.	More than 75 days	5 - 10
• Fruits are kept in a pond filled with water and allowed to rot for 25 to 30 days. There after softened seed coat should be removed by maceration and then sown.	30 days	40
• Breaking open the seed coat and removing the seed inside, without causing any damage. Seeds are then mixed with cow dung slurry, tied in a cloth and kept for 24 hours. Before sowing, spraying of pesticide is done to avoid any attack of pests.	12 to 15 days	70

b. Semecarpus anacardium • Direct dibbling without any treatment	30 days	50 -60
• Treating with Concentrated Sulphuric acid for 30 minutes.	20 days	75
• Breaking open the seed coat without causing any damage.	15 days	89
c. Diospyros melanoxylon • Direct sowing without any treatment.	30 days	40
• Hot water treatment for 10 minutes.	25 days	50
• Treating with Gibberallic acid 500ppm	20 days	75
d. Emblica officinalis • Direct sowing without any treatment.	30 days	40
• Soaking the seeds in Gibberallic acid 500 ppm for 6 hours.	10 to 12 days	70
e. Santalum album • Direct sowing without any treatment.	90 days	75
• Phyto-sanitary treatment with 0.2per cent Agallol for 30 minutes, followed by overnight soaking in 0.5per cent Gibberallic acid.	20 days	95
f. Melia dubia • Direct sowing without any treatment.	80 days	20
• Alternate soaking and drying in cold water.	20 days	75
g. Pterocarpus santalinus • Direct sowing without any treatment.	80 days	30
• Soaking seeds in cow dung slurry for 3 days, wrapping with gunny bag and weighing it down.	15 days	50

Raising of Tall Seedlings

Practice of growing seedlings in small polybags for the purpose of raising plantations on roadside and in urban areas did not work satisfactorily due to damage caused by cattle. In order to avoid cattle damage, the department has developed a technique to grow tall seedlings of forest tree species, which are usually planted in avenue plantations in very short time of about less than 6 months. In this technique it is possible to raise seedlings of 2m to 3m height in bigger poly bags of size 14”x20”. The success is very good. A small booklet “Raising of Tall seedlings of Forest Trees” has been published by the Silviculturist, Northern Zone, Dharwad during the year 2001.

11 .2 Vegetative propagation

Successful vegetative propagation programmes would require development of appropriate environmental control devices for maintaining optimum humidity, temperature and light. Further there should be a proper method to control the growth of pathogens. Two major methods used in vegetative propagation are hetro-vegetative (grafting) and auto vegetative (rooting and cutting). Different methods of vegetative propagation used for different species are given in Table 42.

In 1979 a Mist chamber was set up at Mudugere. Species like Ficus infectoria , Ficus glomerata , Peltophorum ferruginatum, Delonix regia, Samanea saman and Bambusa vulgaris were tried. There was 100 per cent sprouting in all the species.

Hydro pits : Pits of 1m x1m x 1m were opened and filled with sand with plastic sheet underneath. Grafted seedlings were placed in the pit and sufficient irrigation was provided. The pit was closed with UV polythene sheet. It acts as a low cost green house. This is a labour saving device. The grafted seedlings can be removed in 3 weeks.

Temporary poly tents: Small fabricated tents of the size 1m x1m x 1m were found to be most useful as it could be installed under the mother tree. Moist sand layer is provided to provide green house condition. The time spent in scion transportation is shortened, allowing for greater retention of turgidity of scions and better success.

Stem cutting experiments

a).	*Paulownia fortunei* : Ordinary root cuttings of pencil thickness were treated with root hormones. They rooted successfully under green house conditions.
b).	Eucalyptus and Acacia hybrid clonal propagation: Single node cuttings of Eucalyptus and Acacia hybrid from coppice shoots of 45 days were treated with 6000ppm and 4000ppm of IBA and Quick dip solution, respectively and used for clonal multiplication. It resulted in 80 per cent rooting after 15 days.
c).	Stem Cuttings: The twig cuttings of Paulownia fortuni, Gmelina arborea, Dalbergia sissoo, Acacia auriculiformis, Anogeissus latifolia, Santalum album and Tectona grandis were treated with root hormones and placed in mist chambers. This did not give successful results.
d).	Bamboo: Rhizome cuttings of Oxytenanthera stocksii, Thyrostachys oliveri, Bambusa bamboos, Dendrocalamus gigantium were tried for rooting at Mudugere and Doresanipallya. All species responded well except Dendrocalamus gigantium .
e).	Stump based seedling production in Root trainer: The advantages of root trainers are that tap root formation in the plant is promoted, volume of ingredients used is reduced, and nursery period is shortened. Stump based production of seedlings was undertaken in root trainers. Uniformly tall seedlings of Pterocarpus marsupium, Dalbergia latifolia, Gmelina arborea, Azadirachta indica* and Hardwickia binata were produced within 3 months.*

GRAFTING

a).	Softwood Grafting: Soft wood grafting is a substitute for approach grafting. It is used successfully for almost all the species. Low cost poly tents/houses are used for raising softwood-grafted seedlings.
b).	Top working: Top working was successfully employed for Emblica officinalis and Tamarind. The process involved pollarding the tree to knee height and there after wedge grafting was carried out on new shoots. This gave successful results.

Raising seedlings for preparing root and shoot cutting for planting in dry zone

The main reasons for drying of seedlings planted in the dry zone are paucity of moisture for prolonged periods and the scorching effect of the hot summer. Therefore it is necessary that the planting material should have sufficient store of food to withstand the prolonged dry period. For this, seeds of native species were sown in seedbeds. When the seedlings were about 5cm to 7cm in height, they were transplanted to nursery beds in rows at a spacing of 6cm x 6cm. This way the seedlings developed thick shoot and root. The seedlings were maintained in the nursery for one year. About three months prior to planting, root and shoot cuttings of about 15cm to 20cm length were prepared in poly bags of 20cm x 30cm size. The species raised were Hardwickia binata, Chloroxylon swietenia, Anogeissus latifolia, Albizzia amara, Albizzia lebbek, Pongamia Pinnata, Acacia sundra and Ailanthus excelsa. The seedlings raised were planted during 1990 planting season and the performance is being monitored.

Clonal Nurseries

Clonal nurseries have been established in all the silvicultural divisions of the state. The clonal nursery is divided in to three main areas. They are:

a).	Container and cutting preparation area
b).	Greenhouse
c).	Area for development of cuttings

The species tried were Eucalyptus and Acacia auriculiformis . The results were encouraging.

Important achievements in nursery research:

This species was planted in the year 1969 at Mallipatna of Thitimathi Range in an area of 0.2 ha. The plantation is successful with survival percentage of 80. The trees were healthy with 80.0cm average girth and 24.0m height as recorded in the year 1987.

a).	Soft wood grafting technique has been standardized for Tamarindus indica, Artocarpus heterophyllus, Emblica officinalis, Annona squamosa, Syzygium cumini, Feronia elephantum and Sapindus emarginatus.
b).	Low cost poly house and hydropits were devised and were efficient in providing green house conditions.
c).	Top working of young Tamarind trees up to 30cm girth has been done successfully.
d).	The Introduction of root trainers in the nursery has led to reduction in the period of growth. Further, it has resulted in use of less mixture and space optimization.
e).	A new way of grafting 45 days old Tamarind rootstock gave success rate on par with 9-month-old rootstock.
f).	A new trial was conducted in which polytents of size 3' x 6' were fabricated and grafting of Jackfruit seedlings was done under the mother tree. This yielded a success rate of 60.7 per cent besides ensuring clonal fidelity.
g.	VAM production has been undertaken in the nurseries.

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12.MEDICINAL PLANTS

The total geographical area of the state of Karnataka is 1,90,494 km 2 of which 38,284 km 2 is under forests. This includes evergreen, semi evergreen, moist deciduous, dry deciduous, scrub and thorny jungles. According to the report of the Botanical Survey of India 1984 there are 3924 species belonging to 1323 genera and 199 families in these forests, of which, 1493 species are of medicinal value. These belong to 808 genera and 108 families. They occur in different vegetation types across the Western Ghats . Systematic threat assessment exercise has brought 112 taxa into the Red listed category.

Conservation of threatened medicinal plants requires species recovery programmes. In addition, if trade requirements are to be met on a sustainable basis, it is necessary to take steps to enhance production. At present 90 per cent of industrial requirement of plant material comes from forests.

The Karnataka Forest Department has initiated creation of several gardens of medicinal herbs, shrubs and trees associated with Ayurvedic and herbal system of medicine. These gardens serve as sources for seeds and plants for herbal cure. Many medicinal gardens viz; Triphala vana, Panchavati Vana, Panchapallya Vana, Ashoka Vana, Saraswatu Vana, Anti-Diabetics Vana, Krishna Vana, Pushpa Vana, Chyavana Vana, Ramchandra Vana, Kalpavriksha Vana, Dhanavanthri Vana etc. have been established.

The Forest Department has taken up large-scale cultivation of medicinal plants under the centrally sponsored scheme-“Minor Forest Produce”. The total area covered is 4274 ha in the state.

In Karnataka with the help of Foundation for Revitalization of Local Health Traditions (FRLHT) Bangalore , 13 Medicinal Plant Conservation Areas (MPCA) were established from 1993 onwards.

Karnataka Forest Department has taken up a public awareness and dissemination of information programme “ Sasya Sanjeevini ”. This was designed to convey the importance and usages of medicinal plants. The programme was broadcast on All India radio from November 1990 to January 1991. The research wing has taken up wide publicity and has also published a booklet “ Sasya Surabhi ”. Further the Department has brought out books on medicinal plants called “ Sacred Plants ” in English and “ Sasya Sanjeevini ” in Kannada. The books were released to the public in the year 1992. Another book on Red listed Medicinal plants of Karnataka and their distribution across forest types and their threat status was brought out by FRLHT in the year 2000.

Location of Medicinal Plant Conservation Areas (MPCA) in Karnataka

Sl.No	Name of the MPCA	Height about MSL (m)	Forest type sub-group
1	BRT Hills	790-1050	Southern dry mixed deciduous sorest
2	Sandur	550-773	Southern dry mixed deciduous forest
3	Savanadurga	800-970	Dry deciduous scrub
4	Karpakapalli	600-750	Dry deciduous scrub
5	Talacauvery	1000-1355	West coast semi-evergreen forest
6	Subramanya temple	250-800	West coast semi evergreen forest
7	Charmadi	300-1250	West coast semi evergreen forest
8	Devimane	50-500	West coast semi evergreen forest
9	Kudremukh	760-820	Southern hill top tropical evergreen forest
10	Kemmangundi	1300-1700	Southern hill top tropical evergreen forest
11	Devarayandurga	850-1040	Southern thorn forest
12	Agumbe	600-700	West coast tropical evergreen forest
13	Kollur		West coast tropical evergreen forest

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