Acacia senegal, is a prominent tree species of mixed xerophytic thorn forest type, which occurs in rocky hills, dry sandy tracts and sand dunes of arid and semi-arid tropics of India and Africa. The species is main source of gum arabic in many African countries, but gum production potential of this species is untapped in Indian sub-continent. In the present investigation, an attempt is made to study the growth performance and gum production of Acacia senegal under different edaphic conditions. The overall growth performance and gum production of the tree were found to be better on sandy site as compared to other edaphic sites. The study also revealed that gum production is directly co-related with diameter at breast height (dbh) of the trees. By applying simple new gum tapping technology, India could be major source of gum-arabic.

An experiment on evaluation of germplasm of turmeric (Curcuma longa L.) for quality parameters was carried out in the Department of Spices and Plantation Crops, Horticultural College & Research Institute, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, during the year 2001-2002. Total 224 genotypes available in the Department were chosen for the study. Among the different genotypes studied, Acc. No. 156 has recorded the highest curcumin content (6.23%). Similar to the curcumin content, the oleoresin content for the different genotypes studied has been found to have significant difference. However, the essential oil content has not been found to have any significant difference among the different genotypes studied for the experimental purpose.

A nursery study was conducted in College of Forestry, Kerala Agricultural University, Vellanikkara to find out the effect of potting media containing different types of waste materials like garbage and coir dust on establishment, growth and vigour of seedlings of Terminalia paniculata Roth. The seedlings raised in potting media T1 (Soil: sand: cowdung), T5 (Soil: fresh garbage: cowdung) and T12 (Soil: coirdust: cowdung) recorded 100 per cent success with regard to both initial establishment after one week of planting and final survival after eight months. In most of the treatments, the initial establishment was found to be good. The initial establishment and survival were very poor when fresh garbage alone was used as a planting medium. With regard to growth and vigour in terms of shoot and root growth parameters and other physiological attributes, potting mixtures of soil and cowdung with four weeks decomposed garbage were found to be most promising. Growth and vigour was generally found to be less when seedlings were grown in coirdust. The relative growth rate and other physiological attributes were also found to be less for this treatment. Generally, the chlorophyll A content was found to be slightly higher when compared to chlorophyll B. Stomatal distribution did not show a specific pattern with regard to treatments. Nutrient uptake particularly nitrogen was found to be more when cowdung and partially decomposed garbage were used as components of potting media. However, the potting media did not affect the uptake of potassium and phosphorus.

The forest of Santhal Parganas (Jharkhand) is rich in the diversity of flora. Its extant flora affords the basic needs of the tribals living amidst the forest for centuries. The tribals put the forest flora and its parts/ products in their diverse domestic uses as food, fuel, fodder, fibre, bamboowares, timber, medicine, oil, fish poison, etc., and also they sell these things to earn money. To sustain both the surviving forest as well as the tribals dwelling therein, it is imperative to stop deforestation, set up/encourage forest-based labour intensive works (sabai grass-based rope making industry, bamboo-based basketry, fruit-based preservation industry, bidi industry, lac-tasar-mulberry silk culture, gum-resin-dye extraction, eating plate preparation, etc.) and emphasize plantation as per preference of the tribal race of the concerned area.

An experiment was conducted at HAU Regional Research Station, Bawal in order to get good quality seedlings for planting; on investigating the effect of seed size and rooting media on the growth of Jatropha curcas seedlings. Seedlings from large sized seeds showed significant increase in height, collar diameter, root length, number of leaves and dry matter production than small sized seeds. Rooting medium containing farmyard manure (FYM) was significantly better than rooting medium without farmyard manure.

A study was made on the vegetative parameters of Dendrobium cv. Sonia-17 during 1999-2000 in Green House. The planting material consisted of ex-vitro established, six months old tissue culture plantlets of Dendrobium cv. Sonia-17 involving forty two treatment combinations. It was found that NPK 30:10:10 at 0.2% concentration along with BA 200 ppm resulted in larger diameter of the pseudobulb (3.92 cm) and more number of internodes per pseudobulb (5.67).

Based on rating system, five problems which scored more than 50% ratings are : mortality of lac crop during fog especially on Ziziphus mauritiana (Ber) and Schleichera oleosa (Kusum) (72%), shortage of broodlac (62%), non-remunerative market price of lac (57%), spider net on host tree resulting into trapping of crawlers (53%), and lack of technical knowledge on lac cultivation (52%). Two problems, which have rating between 41-50%, are lac crop mortality on Butea monosperma (Palas) during rain after intense heat in summer (50%), dearth of capital for investment in lac cultivation (48%), damage of lac encrustation by squirrel (43%), lack of technical information on lac cultivation (42%), theft in form of broodlac and mature lac sticks (41%) and mortality of crop due to high temperature during summer on Z. mauritiana and B. monosperma (40%). Other problems, which have rating between 31-40%, are damage of lac crop during thunderstorm and peeling of bark of Z. mauritiana shoot by rat (31%), damage of lac crop by insect pests of lac (35%), and lack of information on market price of lac (33%). A few problems are widespread over a large area whereas others are localised to specific areas only.

Bergenia purpurascens (Hook.f. & Thomson) Engler is reported after a lapse of more than 50 years from Tawang District and Podophyllum sikkimensis Chatterjee & Mukerjee for the first time from Arunachal Pradesh.

The study presents an account of 52 species of orchid under 31 genera which are used by different tribal and non-tribal rural communities for different purposes in Nepal. Altogether, 13 species are used for food, 42 for medicine and 2 species for other purposes. Most of the uses are found to be unreported from Nepal.

At present we are passing through a global biological extinction due to various factors. Plants are one of the key constituents of the ecology. Human life is dependent on plants for fulfilling basic needs- food, shelter and medicine. We are losing tropical forests at a rate of 50 hectares per minute and, as a result, one plant species is becoming extinct every day on an average. Flora of Indian subcontinent is very rich in diversity and endemism. India has an estimated 16,000 vascular plants; 5,000 endemic species distributed into different biogeographic zones. These zones have a unique diversity climatically, geographically and biologically which are the habitat of tropical evergreen and alpine-arctic vegetation. But paradoxically, 10-15% of the Indian flowering plants are under various degrees of threat. Nevertheless, 25% will become rare by the turn of the century unless proper conservation measures are taken. Botanic Gardens serve as a repository of germplasm collection and ex-situ conservation of plants especially rare and endangered ones of indigenous and exotic origin. Each Botanic Garden should play a significant role in preserving genetic diversity and to ensure sustainable utilization of the species as spelt out by IUCN, IABG, and BGCI. Cumulative efforts are to be initiated for providing required microclimate to the individual plant species for their conservation. Surveys should be carried out for ascertaining the population of the threatened species in nature from time to time. Ex-situ conservation of the rare and endangered species in the Botanic Garden, their multiplication and, ultimately, rehabilitation in the nature would be the most effective strategy for the conservation of the plant genetic diversity in the new millennium.

Almost all the states in India have Forest Corporations dealing in collection, processing and marketing of forest products. Poor forest labourers who were previously dis-organised have now been brought under the umbrella of various organisations like Forest Labour Cooperative Societies, Large-area Multipurpose Societies (LAMPS), Tribal Development Corporations (TDC) and Minor Forest Produce Federations (MFPF). The Tribal Federation (TRIFED), a government agency, is protecting the interest of the tribals by providing marketing support to state-level corporations, federations and cooperatives dealing with collection of Non-Timber Forest Products by involving tribals. The tribal cooperative society gets collection right of Non-Timber Forest Products (NTFPs) from forest department on payment of lease every year. The lease amount is decided after a thorough survey of the resources inside in the forest by the forest officials. The lease period normally falls from 1st June to 31st May. Collection and marketing of Non-Timber Forest Products being a tedious process several preliminary works and marketing channels do exist to carry on the work. Hence the study was taken up in the Kolli hills of Salem District, Sathyamangalam Forest Division of Erode District and in the Pollachi Division of Tamil Nadu to unravel the tie up activities involved in this collection and marketing of Non-Timber Forest Products. The societies involved, products collected and the collection rate fixed are dealt in detail.

During ethnopharmacobotanical explorations conducted in the villages around the University Campus, 57 species belonging to 35 families could be recorded. These species are presented along with their vernacular names, family and the mode of administration. The results display the vast biodiversity and the various uses of the plants for curing the common ailments and some specific diseases of the local communities. This ethnomedicinal study indicates that the area holds great potential for further pharmacological investigations.