Major Areas

Division >Silviculture and Forest Management> Major Areas

Thrust Areas

Carry out research in the fields of Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) and developing Planted Forest Code and Forest certification. Development of mitigation and adaptation strategies to combat climate change Assessment of carbon sequestration potential of different ecosystems and individual tree species Developing strategies for appropriate land use and land-use change Precision silviculture for improving the productivity of plantations Clonal forestry & quality planting stock production Agro forestry and farm forestry Forest sociology including Participatory Forest Management Reclamation and afforestation of environmentally degraded sites Forest economics and ecological economics Forest ecology including forest influences Thrust Areas

Nursery Activities

Nursery translates the fruits of Tree Improvement activities into quality planting stock. All the efforts taken for increasing the productivity will become null and void if the quality of the planting stock produced is undermined due to faulty nursery operations. Production of quality planting stock with well-developed root system will result in better survival and faster growth resulting in better returns from the plantations. The use of improved potting media containing compost will result in the conservation of topsoil apart from production of disease free seedlings, which subsequently results in better survival rates in the field, after out planting. Nursery techniques have been standardized for the large scale production of quality planting stock of the economically important tree species viz., Azadirachta indica, Acacia nilotica, Acacia leucophloea, Acacia auriculiformis, Albizia amara, Casuarina equisetifolia, Eucalyptus tereticornis, Tectona grandis, Tamarindus indica, , Dalbergia latifolia, Eucalyptus camaldulensis and Pongamia glabra. Introduction of root trainers for quality seedling production, usage of improved and enriched potting media and the usage of biofertilizers to improve the seedling quality are some of the techniques adopted by the institute to produce the improved quality planting stock over the conventionally produced seedlings. As part of Planting Stock Improvement Programme of the Institute of Forest Genetics & Tree Breeding (IFGTB), Coimbatore, a model nursery has been established within the Forest Campus, Coimbatore with a capacity to produce 5 lakh seedlings per year including vegetative propagules. A comprehensive training programme for developing a modern root trainer nursery facility with captive clone banks, vegetative propagation facilities, production facilities for the improved and species specific potting media as well as for the production of compost has been developed for use by the different user agencies. These technologies are being transferred to the different user groups’ viz., farmers, staff of the forest departments, forest development corporations, students of forest colleges and the trainees of the State forest service colleges and the Indian Forest Service through lecture sessions as well as though practical training programmes.

Reclamation of mined areas, mine spoils and other problem areas

Utilization of fly ash in Agriculture and Forestry

Under an externally aided project – funded by the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board - aimed at the utilization of fly ash in Agriculture and Forestry, several agricultural crops viz. paddy, tapioca, sweet potato, ginger, turmeric, ground nut, green gram, black gram and medicinal plants viz. senna, jatropha have been found to yield more by mixing 7 – 15 MT of fly ash / Ha. compared to the untreated control. Similarly several forestry species viz. Casuarina, Eucalyptus, Pongamia, Neem, Sandal wood, Rose wood etc has been grown successfully after mixing fly ash of different quantities. Reclamation of fly ash dumps of several meters depths, of both the saline and non-saline environments, is also being attempted with suitable species.

Afforestation studies in problem soils of Tamil Nadu>

In order to ameliorate the mines overburdens and reduce the pollution caused by them, the Silviculture division of the Institute of Forest Genetics and Tree Breeding Coimbatore is carrying out afforestation and productivity studies in the mine overburdens of the Limestone mine dumps and the Quartz sand dumps of the Associated Cement Company at Madukkarai in Coimbatore district and at the magnesite mine dumps of the Burn Standard Company, Salem. Silviculture Division is also involved in the afforestation of Bauxite mine dumps at Yercaud in the Shervaroy Hills. The Silviculture division is also providing consultancy to the Burn Standard Company, Salem and the Associated Cement Company at Madukkarai in Coimbatore district in their afforestation activities.