HIGH DENSITY ENERGY PLANTATIONS : A COMPARISON OF GROWTH RESPONSES OF THREE SPECIES AT DIFFERENT PLANTING DENSITIES

摘要

A study was undertaken in a nine year old energy plantation consisting of Eucalyptus tereticornis Smith, Melia azedarach Linn, and Leucaena leucocephala Lam. de Wit. established at four planting densities viz., 5,000, 10,000, 15,000 and 20,000 plants/ha. Survival per cent was maximum in L. leucocephala over other species which remained statistically alike. The dbh outperformed in L. leucocephala followed by M. azedarach and E tereticornis. The effect of plant density was non-significant on survivaland height but significant on dbh which decreased with increase in plant density. Specific gravity depicted significant variation in species but had no significant effect due to density or density x species interaction. Above ground biomass computed on mean tree and per ha basis differed significantly with the species and density both; while in the former it tended to decline, in the latter it improved substantially with increase in plant density. The contribution of leaf, branch and stem to mean tree biomass irrespective of the species and plant densities varied from 4.11 to 5.21, 16.19 to 25.84 and 69.89 to 79.72, respectively.