Evaluation of Eucalyptus Clones for Growth and Yield in Southern Region of Andhra Pradesh, India

Abstract

Eucalyptus is one of the most commonly planted forest species in the world due to its resilience to a variety of climatic and edaphic conditions as well as its use in the paper and pulp industry. The primary factor in the use of species at the farming and commercial levels in agroforestry is the higher productivity the species in a short time of 4-5 years. Superior clones are produced by Eucalyptus clonal trials at several areas, depending on the needs and performance. The present study was carried out to assess the growth and yield performance of Eucalyptus clones in southern region of Andhra Pradesh for identification of promising clones for the region. A clonal trial was established in the year 2012 with 49 clones to assess their suitability in the region.  The results of growth performance on evaluation of these clones represents clone BCM-288 (13.9m) recorded higher tree height and the highest value of DBH belonged to clone BCM-23 (42.3 cm). The remaining clones had different ranks of DBH and height increments as compared to mean. The clone BCM-2169 recorded the maximum stem weight (125.8 kg/tree) and total above ground biomass (148.7 kg/tree) among the clones tested and clones BCM- 23 and BCM-571 recorded at par values.  The clone BCM-27 recorded the least stem weight, foliage weight and above ground biomass proving to be a least performer among the clones tested.  Therefore, in future, these promising clones (BCM-2169, BCM-23 and BCM-571) can be cloned for development and deployment of genetically superior clonal planting stock for reforestation, farming and Agroforestry projects in southern region of Andhra Pradesh.