Poplar (Populus deltoides) based Agroforestry Systems are prevalent in Saharanpur and Yamunanagar districts of North-Western India. These systems are not only remunerative to the farmers but also contributing in CO2 mitigation of environment through biomass accumulation in tree biomass. As stem wood biomass contributes maximum in total tree biomass and no direct method is available for estimating carbon stock in it, some models need to be developed. Primary data on Poplar trees from Agroforestry plantations of different ages was collected from the two districts. Two sets of data, one for boundary system and other for Agrisilvisulture System were used for developing models/equations. Linear and non-linear equations have been developed for carbon stock in stem wood biomass using height and diameter at breast height as explanatory variables. Fitted non-linear equations were found better than linear equations on the basis of adjusted R2 and mean square error for two systems. Thus, developed equations viz., C = -12.288+0.744D+0.139D2 (R2=0.998, MSE=1.219) for boundary system; C = 13.823+0.736D+0.143D2 (R2=0.998, MSE=0.719) for agrisilviculture system; and C = -12.645+0.719D+0.141D2 (R2=0.998, MSE=0.276) for pooled system; where C-carbon stock in stem wood biomass (kg/tree) and D-diameter at breast height (cm) are found good fit. Hence these models/equations may be used for estimating carbon stock in stem wood biomass of Poplar trees in Agroforestry plantations of tarai plains in North-Western India.

Pinus gerardiana Wall. (Neoza pine) is a native of North-West Himalaya. The pine is valued for its edible nuts which fetch very high price in the market. Since natural regeneration is scanty and growth rate very slow, an alternative method of vegetative propagation was investigated for large scale multiplication/raising clonal seed orchard in the species. It was evident that cuttings of seedling donors and those of girdled ones produced significantly better bud activity, rooting and root characteristics as compared to those of pole/tree donors and non girdled cuttings. A significantly highest rooting of 36 % was recorded when girdled cuttings of seedling donors were treated with 1% IBA + 10% captan + 10% sucrose-talc during April. However, as far as air layering was concerned, application of 0.75% IBA + 10% captan + 10% sucrose-talc or 1% IBA + 10% captan + 1-% sucrose-talc during June proved most effective resulting in 43.33 % rooting each when performed at Kalpa/Peo forests of district Kinnaur.

This paper highlights the very useful information on shoot-cuttings plantation of Willow as well as operational mechanism, approaches and framework developed by the farmers for early establishment and maximum biomass production in cold desert of the Lahaul valley. The highest shoot-cuttings survival of Willow was at middle altitude (Hinsa; 80.3±10.53%) followed by Jahlma (73.75±12.11%), lower altitude (Kuthar; 68.6±11.45%) and lowest at high altitude (Khoksar; 52.4±10.38%) villages. The emergence of the number of sprouts from newly planted shoot-cuttings were highest (P<0.05, F=3.87) at middle altitude (Hinsa; 23.03±2.61) followed by Jahlma (19.83±1.14), lower altitude (Kuthar; 17.58±1.07) and lowest at highest altitude (Khoksar; 14.57±1.99) villages. To generate the new shoot-cuttings plantations from the healthy parental material, genetic improvement and selection of new clones suitable for the cold desert environment have been suggested.

Fine sand and silt mineralogy of selected horizons of some soils representing various landforms of Pauri district of Uttarakhand were investigated. Light minerals constituted bulk of fine sand fraction and consisted of quartz, orthoclace feldspar, plagioclase feldspar and muscovite in their abundance. Heavy minerals occurred in minute amounts and were dominated by opaque minerals, zircon, hornblende, calcite, chloritized mica, biotite, tourmaline, rutile and garnet. The study suggests that quartz, tourmaline, opaque minerals, rutile and zircon were the resistant minerals present in these soils. The most weatherable minerals include feldspar, calcite, biotite, chlorirtized mica and hornblende. In silt fraction, quartz was the dominant mineral in all the pedons. Variation in mineralogical make up were mostly associated wi9th nature and composition of parent material and degree of weathering. The soils of Pauri district, in general contained moderate to high amount of weatherable minerals indicating their juvenile to intermediate stages of weathering.

Pre-sowing seed treatments of four exotic Acacia species, Acacia albida syn. Faidherbia albida, A. holosericea, A. auriculiformis and A. amplices were investigated. Seeds were subjected to hot water and acid scarification treatments. Germination percentage, germination value and vigor index achieved in different pretreatments were recorded. In A. albida, significantly higher values for all the germination parameters with per cent germination (68.66 %), germination value (5.95) and vigor index (9548.33) were recorded in treatment with conc. sulphuric acid for 5 minutes. In A. holosericea, hot water treatments promoted germination significantly (69.33 %) and vigorous seedlings (VI= 5262.66) were produced. However, highest germination value (3.81) was recorded in treatment receiving alternative dip in hot and cold water thrice. Similar trend was noticed in the A. amplices, where significantly superior values for germination percentage, germination value and vigor index were obtained in treatments receiving variations in hot water and soaking. Seeds dipped in boiling water for 10 min followed by soaking for 12 hrs was found effective in breaking dormancy in A. auriculiformis, where 77 % germination, 10.2 average germination value and 4573.33 value of vigor index was observed.

The performance of Withania somnifera under Pinus roxburghii (Chir pine) plantation has been studied to assess the growth and yield for its commercial exploitation and conservation. It was grown on three topographical aspects viz Northern, North Western and Western at a spacing of 30 x 30 cm, followed by three tillage depths viz minimum (0 cm), Medium (up to 10 cm) and deep tillage (up to 15 cm). The growth parameters viz. plant height, number of branches per plant and leaf area index were statistically not affected by topographical aspects and tillage practices during harvesting stage in both understorey and open conditions except plant height. Although, the maximum yield was observed in Western aspect in open conditions as compared to understorey of Chirpine but the highest gross returns were observed for the crop cultivated on Western aspect under deep tillage in understorey conditions which indicates its possible viability under Agroforestry System, but on the basis of Net returns Withania somnifera, could not prove its economic viability as the cost of cultivation was higher than the gross returns. Hence if the cost of cultivation can be lessened by any means the system can be suggested which will help utilizing an unutilized part of land and increase total productivity from such lands.

Dalbergia sissoo Roxb. (Shisham) is considered a multipurpose tree species due to its various uses as timber, shelter, fuelwood and fodder. Due to commercial importance in timber Industry, tree improvement of species is essentially required for genetic upliftment of the species. Under World Bank (FREE) project of ICFRE, tree improvement activities were accentuated towards development of seed orchards. CSO at Lacchiwala, Dehra Dun is an effort towards this direction to produce genetic seeds. The genetic base of CSO was comprised of 31 selected clones from India and Nepal. At 14 years of age, pods were assessed for characteristics like pod length, width, number of seeds/pods, weight of 100 gm pods while for seed characters, length and width of seeds was assessed. Results show that there is a significant genetic variation among clones at 0.1% level with respect to all parameters studied. Clone No. 60 belonging to Chicchrauli (Haryana) performed best with respect to all pod and seeds parameters followed by Clone 10 (Pathri, Uttrakhand) hence these can be used for bulk production of nursery stock. The linear inter-character correlations were estimated using Karl Pearson’s correlation matrix. Simple correlation matrix revealed that all fruit and seed characteristics had significant positive correlation except seed length and seed width which were negatively correlated (r = - 0.313).

The study was conducted in three densities (D1 = 1200, D2 = 2800 and D3 = 3600 trees/ha) of A. mollissima plantations in university area at Solan. Effect of trees on herbage growth and production was studied during the growing season. The growth parameters viz., density, basal area and aboveground production of herbage increased from June, attained the peak values by August/September and declined thereafter till October and different species showed varying contribution to the community during different months. In general, the values of the growth parameters were maximum in control (grassland) followed by D1, D2 and D3. Peak density of herbage decreased by 18-35%, peak basal area decreased by 13-50% and peak aboveground biomass declined by 7-44% of the control (grassland) under different densities of A. mollissima trees.

Dalbergia sissoo Roxb. (Fabaceae) is grown extensively in Indian subcontinent upto 1000 m asl. It produces extremely good quality timber and an important raw material for furniture industry of the region. The experiments were carried out in three geographical sites of Punjab to assess the path correlation in 36 most productive clones of D. sissoo. To carried out path analysis in the clones to understand the direct and indirect effects of characters namely for economic traits viz. height, height at Ist branch, collar diameter, diameter at breast height, straightness and branching behavior. The volume of the clones was calculated on the basis of height and diameter using standard formula, and contribution of each trait towards productivity was analyzed through path analysis. Volume is a complex character and is controlled by direct and indirect effects of many parameters. Accordingly, six parameters were analyzed for their direct and indirect effect on volume. Highest significant direct effect exerted by CD (0.973) on volume whereas, CD (0.958), DBH (0.948), straightness (0.251) and branching behavior (0.244) exerted significant indirect effect via. height; DBH (0.802), straightness (0.443) and branching behavior (0.408) through height at Ist branch; straightness (0.209) and branching behavior (0.204) through CD and branching behavior (0.158) through DBH. The study revealed that these traits could collectively be used as important parameters for selecting productive genotypes of Dalbergia sissoo for higher economic benefits.

A survey was conducted on demand and supply of fuelwood in the Majuli subdivision of Jorhat district of Assam. People of the area are mainly rural and cultivation is the main source of livelihood.  A total of 490.30 tons of fuelwood is extracted annually. The share of supply of fuelwood from homestead, bamboo stead and forest is 88%, 7% and 5% respectively. The per capita extraction of fuelwood in the region is 613 kg yr-1. The total consumption of fuelwood is 375.63 t yr-1. Out of this, 89% is mainly consumed in cooking, 9% in community function and rest 2% in cremation. The per capita consumption of fuelwood is 470 kg yr-1 in the region. There is a huge amount of fuel wood i.e. 114.67 tons is found to be surplus in the region that counts 30.53 percent of the total consumption. The per capita surplus of fuelwood is 143 kg yr-1.  A total of 19 species of fuelwood are in use in the area. Out of which, the most preferred fuel wood species is Melia azedarach (Ghora neem) followed by Albizia lucida (Moj).

Dysoxylum malabaricum (White Cedar) is one of the highly priced timbers yielding species endemic to the Western Ghats. It is highly valued for its lustrous, sweet-scented and durable timber and mainly used for construction of temples. Its wood properties are comparable with that of teak. Populations of D. malabaricum are too scanty and less reported. The species has been subjected to severe illegal felling in the natural forest, hence it has caused concerns among conservation biologists. Recently, Karnataka Forest Department has planned to take up large-scale plantation programme of this species. However, there are no reports related to standardization of nursery techniques for this species. Evaluation of seedlings for their growing media is an important step for nursery rising. The present study was under taken to know the effect of vermicompost and habitat soil on early growth of seedlings in D. malabaricum. Result showed that potting mixtures containing red soil as one of the components of potting mixture recorded maximum seedling height, collar diameter and number of leaves per plant when compared to those potting mixture containing habitat soil. Interestingly, there was a negative influence of vermicompost on seedling growth, where the treatment, containing soil, sand and vermicompost in the proportion of 1:1:1 (T2) showed poor growth as compared to potting mixture containing soil, sand and vermicompost in the ratio of 1:1: ½ (T3). This suggests that use of vermicompost may not always beneficial to the plant growth in Dysoxylum malabaricum.

The present paper is a result of exploration of wild species distributed in Pyrus malus L. orchard of the Chakrata Forest Division, Uttarakhand. In orchards, out of 179 species which have been listed, of them 161 belong to dicotyledons of 53 families and 16 belong to monocotyledons of 06 families. Gymnosperms are also distributed within 02 species of 01 family.

Life cycle of Parasa vivida Walk commonly known as stinging caterpillar on Populus deltoides has been studied and described for the first time on this host. This is a polyphagous pest and a major limacodid pest. Larvae of this pest have very irritant tufts of spines and moves like a slug. They generally prefer mature leaves and almost devour the leaves except the midrib. Females tend to be slightly larger than the males.

Vateria indica L., is an important endemic vulnerable tree of Western Ghats. Seed myco-flora of V. indica collected from different locations of Western Ghats in Karnataka at different fruiting years was studied. Among all fungal isolates, Macrophomina phaseolina was most abundant (16.92%) on the seed samples causing mortality in germinating seeds. The mycelial growth of this fungus was observed predominantly on collar region of radicle in geminating seeds. Infected roots were rotted from region of pathogen occurrence and further, infected tissues were discoloured with the progress of disease. Seeds treated with fungal suspension carried infection on radicle of germinating seeds and hindered the survival of seedling. Though, M. phaseolina is known for its pathogenicty in most of the agricultural crops, its impact on V. indica seed health and seedling endurance was proved for the first time in this study.

To standardize harvest date as reliable field indicator of Moru Oak (Quercus dilatata Lindl.) acorn maturity under Shillaru conditions of temperate Himalayas, acorns were collected at different dates: August 4, 12, 20, 28 and September 4. It was observed that acorns harvested on August 4 have an edge over rest of the acorns harvest dates in all germination as well as growth and biomass parameters studied viz. field germination percent (72.67%), field germination energy percent (39.33%), field germination value (154.80), field germination rate index (41.13), survival percent (54.67%), shoot length (15.93 cm), root length (26.67 cm), collar diameter (0.44 cm), no. of roots (1.30), shoot biomass (0.76g) and root biomass (0.74g). First week of August as harvest date may be adopted as reliable field indicator of Moru oak acorn maturity for making bulk collection of acorns in higher hills of Shimla district of Himachal Pradesh and adjoining areas.

The paper reports detailed entomological survey on the Dragonfly and Damselfly (Odonata) diversity in Kanha National Park, famous in the world for tigers. A total of 36 species of Odonates belonging to 2 Suborders and 7 families, viz., Gomphidae (2 species), Aeshnidae (2 species), Libellulidae (20 species), Coenagrionidae (8 species), Protoneuridae (2 species), Euphaeidae (1 species) and Lestidae (1 species) were recorded. The park and its surrounding form a unique resource of Odonate diversity and the present observations support the value of the reserve forest area in providing valuable habitat for Odonata. Odonates are good indicators of environment as they are sensitive and directly affected by micro level changes in the habitats in relation to the weather conditions.

Alpinia luteo-carpa Elmer is reported for the first time from Andaman Islands. A short description with illustration, colour photo and relevant notes are provided.

Ipomoea laxiflora H.J. Chowdhery & M.R. Debta collected from pigeon pea crop fields and mango orchards of Permanandpur village of Varanasi district is reported for the first time from Uttar Pradesh. Detailed description and illustrations are provided.

The present paper deals with a sedge species Scleria lithosperma (L.) Swartz new to Gujarat state. The paper also envisages brief citation, description, flowering and fruiting time followed by ecological notes, critical notes and specimens examined.

Rectolejeunea devendrae Sushil K.Singh, closely related to R. olivacea (Steph.) S.C. Srivast. and A. Agarwal, is described as a new species from Indian Botanic Garden, Howrah in Gangetic plains of West Bengal, India.

The paper deals with nine species of Dryopteris Adans. occurring in Mizoram. Artificial key for identification, correct nomenclature, diagnostic feature and photos of all the nine species have been provided to facilitate easy identification.

The paper records 61 species of Graphidaceous lichens from Arunachal Pradesh. Of these 3 species viz. Graphis crebra Vain., G. daintreensis (A.W. Archer) A.W. Archer and G. dimidiata Vain. are discovered as new records for India and 36 species marked by an asterisk (*) are new reports for the state of Arunachal Pradesh. Each species is enumerated by its valid name, habit, frequency of occurrence in the area and distribution in India.

The study on the family Asteraceae for Flora of Karnataka state, revealed that there are 92 genera, 164 species, 8 infra-taxa and 19 cultivated species in the Karnataka state, out of these, 39 taxa belong to 16 genera are endemic to India and found in the state. The details of endemic taxa are provided here.

Celosia argentea L. is one of the common species growing in fallow lands, cultivated fields and as ruderal flora along roads. During field studies at Kinjalgad, Wai Taluka, Satara district, Maharashtra one unusual individual of this species with teratological growth of stem and inflorescence was recorded. Details of teratological changes have been discussed in the communication.

The seeds of Gluta travancorica Bedd. during ex situ germination exhibited multiple albino seedlings along with normal green ones. The albinos were perished after 40-50 days of germination due to lack of chlorophyll. The development of albino seedlings thus being facilitated to identify the albino carrying genotypes of the species in its natural populations and further to act as a genetic marker to estimate the degree of self-breeding in the species. The phenomenon insights much genetic significance in determining the threat status and foreseen the endangerment of the species in the Western Ghats.