The present investigation was carried out to study the variation in morphological characters in different species of Seabuckthorn in cold deserts of Himachal Pradesh. Different species showed variation w.r.t. branch, leaf, thorn and fruit characters under natural conditions. As regards the variation with age in both the species, it was reported that branch, leaf and fruit characters showed increasing trend up to the age of 9-year thereafter it starts declining. In general, it was suggested that 9-year age is the best for harvesting the fruits in both the species where all the characters showed maximum value.

Seven isolates attacking the grubs and beetles of Sal heartwood borer, Hoplocerambyx spinicornis have been evaluated in the laboratory. On the basis of their morphological studies, 6 species identified for the first time. The pathogenicity of each of them was tested in laboratory. An isolate of Beauveria bassiana was proved best among all the isolates tested so far. It killed 75.19 to 77.59 per cent young grubs of H. spinicornis within 6 days of exposure.

An experiment on Establishment and Growth of Fruit Trees and their effect on Crop Growth and Production was conducted at National Research Centre for Agroforestry, Jhansi with four fruit tree species, viz. Guava, Ber, Anar and Kinnow along with four crop rotations, viz. Sorghum-Wheat, Sorghum-Chickpea, Groundnut-Wheat and Groundnut-Chickpea. The experiment was laid out in a double split plot design. Data on Wheat yield under all the four fruit tree species from crop rotations Sorghum-Wheat, Groundnut-Wheat and at different distances (75 cm, 125 cm and 175 cm) from the tree base was analyzed. It was concluded that the Wheat yield pertaining to different distances from the tree was significantly different. The yield shows an increasing trend as the distance from the tree increases irrespective of the tree species.

The method of ‘path coefficients’ has been used for analyzing correlation coefficients between yield of Wheat and its other biometrical characters under four different tree species. This technique helps in establishing the relative importance of various biometrical characters of Wheat, viz. plant population, plant height, number of tillers per plant, grain weight per earhead, and number of effective tillers as determiners of Wheat yield under different species of fruit trees in agroforestry system.

The method of ‘path coefficients’ has been used for analyzing correlation coefficients between yield of Wheat and its other biometrical characters under four different tree species. This technique helps in establishing the relative importance of various biometrical characters of Wheat, viz. plant population, plant height, number of tillers per plant, grain weight per earhead, and number of effective tillers as determiners of Wheat yield under different Multipurpose Tree Species (MPTs) in agroforestry system. It is observed from the correlation components that number of tillers and number of effective tillers exerted a greatest influence both directly and indirectly upon the yield of Wheat crop under all the four tree species.

Pteris wallichiana (Pteridaceae) has been reported as a new record for the flora of South India.

Pergularia tomentosa L. has been recorded for the first time from India. Complete description, phenology, ecology and distributional data have been provided along with figure for easily determination of taxa. Its occurrence in Western India shows the extended distribution of taxon from west to eastwards.

Four new flowering plant species are recorded for the first time from Satpuda region of Khandesh area of Maharashtra State.

In this study, we explored the potential of multi-temporal IRS-1D WiFS (Wide Field Sensor) data for characterization of tropical forest in Central India. As the WiFS has a red (R) and near infrared (NIR) band that is sensitive to vegetation, soil moisture and leaf water content, the Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and other matrices of NDVI were calculated. A forest cover map of Central India was generated from a hybrid classification approach with 8 month WiFS composite NDVI data. Eight different forest categories were distinguished from the 188 m spatial resolution WiFS data. The WiFS forest map was compared to estimates of forest area derived from IRS-1C LISS III product of Forest Survey of India (FSI). There was a good agreement on spatial distribution and area of forest between WiFS product and the LISS III images. In the present study the forest cover of the central highlands is accounted as 34.68% whereas the FSI reports 34.84% forest cover. However, the WiFS product provided additional information on forest types, viz., tropical moist deciduous, dry deciduous and mixed deciduous. Analysis of matrices of NDVI over different seasons allowed for the identification of distinct phenological forest cover types. It is evident that WiFS data can be used to provide timely and detailed forest maps with limited ancillary data needed. The WiFS derived forest maps could be very useful as input to biogeochemical models (particularly carbon cycle models) that require timely estimates of forest area and type.

One-year-old shoots from stool bed of Populus ciliata were collected in late fall to determine the influence of diameter of cuttings on growth, establishment and stock quality attributes of five provenances of P. ciliata  in a nursery trial for two consecutive years during 1999 and 2000. Results of the analysis indicated that increase in diameter of cuttings significantly increased sprouting and survival per cent and number of roots. The cuttings of intermediate thickness (>15-20 mm) gave maximum juvenile growth at the end of growing season. Provenance variation was also observed in growth and stock quality attributes of P. ciliata.

Multiple shoots (8-45) were obtained from apical bud explants of mature B. ceiba L. on woody plant medium  supplemented with Naphthalene acetic acid (2.68 mM) in combination with Benzyl amino purine (22.19 mM). Shoots  were elongated on WPM augmented with BAP (0.44 mM) and Adenine sulphate (5 mg/l). In vitro multiplied shoots could be rooted on medium containing Indole butyric acid (2.46 mM), BAP (0.44 mM) and 2% sucrose. Plantlets were hardened and transferred to pots containing sand  and soil (1:1), acclimatized and have been established in field.

Zeuxine seidenfadenii earlier known from Dehra Dun Valley in Western Himalaya is reported for the first time from Sikkim in Eastern Himalaya. A brief description of the species along with illustration is provided.

Acacia senegal Willd. is source of gum arabic and one of the important agroforestry components in arid regions of India. It produces polymorphic seeds. In general, seeds do not require any pre-treament for germination under nursery environment. Seeds can be stored for two years and after that seed viability is reduced. Smaller seeds have low germination value and need to be discarded if the quality seedlings are to be raised in nursery. Drought affects the seed quality and seed size is especially often reduced.

Different aspects of plant diversity and productivity were studied in a 40-yr-old rehabilitated forest developed on barren sodic land at Banthra, Lucknow, U.P. It was a dry semi-deciduous forest with both planted as well as invading species. Tree species were grouped in two strata: overstorey and understorey with 44 and 8 species, respectively. Three stands, each of about 1 ha were selected according to gross morphology, population density and different basal area of 21-39 m2 ha-1. Dominant species were established on the basis of in importance value index. Stands were compared for population size, dominance, species richness, heterogeneity and several diversity indices. On average, the forest consisted of a high equitability (0.73) and less redundancy (0.27) with a Shannon Weiner’s general diversity index of 2.45. The forest biomass has been estimated as 329 Mg ha-1 for overstorey and 5 Mg ha-1 for understorey.

Out of 42 strains isolated from Samanea saman, 13 were authenticated as Rhizobium. Most of the colonies were transparent and others were creamy white and yellowish in colour and after 48 hours of incubation the diameter of the colony ranged from 3.2 to 5.4 mm. Experiments were conducted in pot culture using both sterilized and un-sterilized soil and results show significant increase in growth, nodulation and biomass production in seedlings inoculated with strain no Sjo140 followed by Sjo130 and Sjo 128. In Sm121 and Sp112 inoculated seedlings number of nodules were recorded almost double than the uninoculated ones. Strains Sj140, Sj130 and Sp112 were found efficient and suggested for further field performance evaluation.

This paper is intended to show the difference in agriculture technology before and after the introduction of watershed management project in the Pali village of Dehra Dun. There was change in time disposition pattern of the farmers, land-use pattern, agriculture tools use, cash crop production and fruits trees. The forest cover and irrigated land has been increased. Introduction of improved type of breed cattle helped the villagers in increasing the milk production. After the introduction of fodder grasses and soil conservation in the village, the soil erosion reduced. The fuel-wood dependency on the forest reduced due to introduction of bio-gas plant by project authority in the village. All the factors adopted by the farmers in the village helped them to increase the crop production and improve their economic condition after the introduction of the project in the village.

Control of Ganoderma lucidum, a serious root-rot pathogen of tree species has been attempted in vitro using some chemicals, fungicides and plant materials. Borax, boric acid, copper sulphate, sodium carbonate, urea and zinc chloride among chemicals at 0.5% conc.; benomyl, bitertanol, blitox, captan and topsin-M among fungicides at 0.2% conc. and turmeric powder among plant materials were effective in controlling the growth of G. lucidum. However, only borax, boric acid, copper sulphate, sodium carbonate, urea and blitox were found effective in controlling the growth of G. lucidum in wooden feeder strips when added in soil.

Prediction models play an important role in forecasting the disease progression in time. The rust of Teak, which was caused by Olivea tectonae, was predicted by Logistic model. For 1-2 year Teak, the estimated Per cent Disease Index (PDI) varied from 1.88 to 47.75 with coefficient of determination r=0.988 and 2.25 to 84.41 with coefficient of determination r= 0.952 for 3-6 year Teak saplings.

The sprouting behaviour of different 35 Mulberry varieties were taken during autumn 1999 and spring 2000 to screen out early sprouting varieties for introduction in the field for commercial exploitation. It was observed that Mandalya T-R8, TR10 and S146 are early sprouting varieties. These varieties take 13 to 14 days in spring and 7 to 10 days in autumn for sprouting. All exotic varieties were found exhibiting late sprouting characters. The sprouting in these varieties occurred only towards the second half of March and early April when temperature is comparatively higher for bivoltine rearing. The early sprouting varieties are more suitable for bivoltine rearing than the late sprouting varieties. Hence Mandalaya TR-8, TR-10 and S146 can safely be recommended for bivoltine rearing in subtropical area due to coincidence of their sprouting with bivoltine rearing schedule.

Studies to evaluate the changes in plant diversity and chemical properties of soil under the plantations of Cupressus torulosa D. Don and Robinia pseud-acacia Linn. raised on mine overburden areas near Paonta Sahib in Sirmour District of Himachal Pradesh were carried out during August, 2000. The number of ground flora species as recorded under Cupressus torulosa and Robinia pseud-acacia plantations were 30 m-2 and 42 m-2 respectively. On the basis of Importance Value Index (IVI), Oplismenus compositus and Eupatorium adenophorum were found to be the dominant herbs under Cupressus torulosa and Robinia pseud-acacia plantation respectively.  In general, distribution of most of ground flora species was contiguous. Index of dominance was lower and index of diversity was higher for ground flora under plantations as compared to the exposed mine overburden area.  The ground flora under Robinia pseud-acacia has highest diversity index (4.223). The index of dissimilarity between plantations and exposed mine overburden area was high indicate remarkable degree of dissimilarity in ground flora species. However, there was plenty of similarity between two plantations as far as ground flora under them was concerned. Soil under plantations revealed better fertility status in comparison to exposed mine overburden area.

The paper presents an account of a rare fern Dryopteris gamblei (Hope) C. Chr. (Dryopteridaceae) re-reported from Garhwal Hills after a gap of 121 years (Gamble and Mackinnon, 1881, vide Hope). Previously it was reported from Tehri Garhwal and Jaunsar, the West Garhwal but during recent exploration of Garhwal Himalayas it is been collected from Chamoli and Rudraprayag Districts, the Eastern Garhwal.