Friday, 19 November 2021 | PNS | Dehradun
Four institutes of the Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education (ICFRE), Dehradun- Forest Research Institute (FRI) Dehradun, Institute of Forest Genetics and Tree Breeding (IFGTB) Coimbatore, Institute of Forest Productivity (IFP) Ranchi and Arid Forest Research Institute (AFRI) Jodhpur have developed high yielding clones of important forestry species namely Azadirachta indica (Neem), Calophyllum inophyllum, Eucalyptus hybrid, Dalbergia sissoo and Populus deltoides.
The council’s Variety Releasing Committee (VRC) in its meeting presided over by its chairman and director general of forests Subhash Chandra granted approval for the release of 22 clones. FRI has developed six genotypes of Neem for commercial cultivation. These cultivars can produce on an average double the oil and Azadirachtin content in comparison to base population. IFGTB had worked on interspecific hybrids from three different species namely Eucalyptus tereticornis, E. camaldulensis and E. grandis and developed two clones of Eucalyptus Hybridshaving growth superiority of more than 10 per cent over and above its best clone.
Six clonesof Calophyllum inophyllum valued for its fruit and oil content are also developed by IFGTB for commercial cultivation in Southern States, which can give on an average upto six kg average fruit yield/tree after sixth year of planting compared to 4.3 kg from unimproved seed source. Similarly, three clones of Dalbergia sissoo consistently giving high timber yield were developed by AFRI for Gujarat. Similarly, IFT developed five poplar clones with high productivity and short rotation period for Bihar.
