Active root distribution pattern of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Hevea brasiliensis</Emphasis> determined by radioassay of latex serum

The active root distribution pattern of mature rubber (Hevea brasiliensis Muell. Arg.) up to a lateral distance of 250 cm from the tree and to a soil depth of 90 cm was studied in an oxisol by employing ³²P soil injection technique in Kerala, the state which accounts for 83% of rubber cultivation in India. The trees were aged 18 years and grown at a spacing of 4.9 × 4.9 m. The extent of absorption of applied ³²P by the tree from various placements was assessed by radio assay of leaf and latex serum. Latex serum registered higher counts and variability was less compared to leaf indicating the suitability of latex serum as a potential source for radio assay for ³²P studies in rubber. The results revealed that rubber is a surface feeder with 55% of the root activity confining to the top 10 cm of soil layer. Root activity declined with increasing depths and the concentration of physiologically active roots at 90 cm depth was only 6%. A more or less uniform distribution of root activity was noticed with respect to lateral distance indicating more extensive spread of lateral roots. Concentration of physiologically active roots in the surface layer suggests the possibility for competition under intercropped situation in mature plantations.     

Forest villages: an agroforestry approach to rehabilitating forest land degraded by shifting cultivation in Thailand

The Forest village scheme was introduced by the Forest Industries Organisation (FIO) of Thailand in 1967 as an attempt to stop further spread of the fast increasing shifting cultivation and deforestation in the country. The underlying princple of the scheme is to relate reforestation with social welfare of the people involved. It is essentially a modification of the traditional taungya method of plantation establishment.The salient aspect of the scheme is to induce the shifting cultivators to settle down in villages where each family is given tenure over a plot of land to construct a house and develop a homegarden around it. The farmers are required to help establish and maintain forest plantations, in which they are permitted to raise agricultural crops during the first three years of its establishment. The farmers are also given free medical and educational facilities, and technical advice on crop and livestock husbandry. They can also earn cash rewards for successful plantation establishment.Although the scheme has not achieved its full target in terms of area covered and number of families settled, it is proving to be a successful method of luring people away from destructive shifting cultivation. The approach is applicable to other countries and regions with similar land-use problems and socio-cultural background.The paper also examines the constraints to the effective working of the scheme, provides some simple suggestions for improving its functioning and identies some of the issues that can easily be tackled by research.     

Litter dynamics of six multipurpose trees in a homegarden in Southern Kerala, India

Multipurpose trees, the integral components of homegardens, contribute significantly to the closed nutrient cycling processes and sustainability of the ecosystem. Although, the litter production and probable nutrient returns via litter in homegardens have been documented, quantification and characterization of the decomposition and bioelement release from the litter have received relatively little scientific attention. The objective of the present study is to explore the litter dynamics of six locally important multipurpose trees (Mangifera indica L., Artocarpus heterophyllus Lamk., Anacardium occidentale L., Ailanthus triphysa Dennst., Artocarpus hirsutus L. and Swietenia macrophylla L.), in an agroforestry homegarden in Southern Kerala, India. Litterfall and nutrient additions in the six species ranged from 383 to 868 g m⁻² yr⁻¹, nitrogen, 6.4 to 8.8, phosphorus, 0.17 to 0.42 and potassium, 1.1 to 2.8 g m⁻² yr⁻¹. The annual litter output in the homegarden was 425 kg with A. hirsutus, M. indica, A. heterophyllus and A. occidentale recording significantly higher litter and nutrient additions. Leaf litter decay studies revealed A. heterophyllus and A. occidentale to be the most labile litter species and S. macrophylla the most recalcitrant. The decay rate coefficients varied significantly among the species. Foliage decomposition rates related to the initial chemical composition of the litter revealed best correlation with lignin. NPK release was almost complete by the end of decay in all species inspite of the initial phases of accumulation observed for nitrogen and phosphorus. Two-way analysis of variance test revealed significant differences in the contents of the three elements as a function of species and time elapsed. Macronutrients were released in the order K>N/P. The higher rates of decay and nutrient turnover in M. indica, A. heterophyllus and A. occidentale foliage indicated the potential of using these species’ litter as nutrient inputs in agriculture while A. triphysa, A. hirsutus and S. macrophylla perform better as organic mulches taking a longer time for decay and hence nutrient release.     

Adoption potential of fruit-tree-based agroforestry on small farms in the subtropical highlands

Worldwide, fruit-tree-based agroforestry systems have been only modestly studied, although they are common on smallholder farms. Such systems based on apple (Malus spp.), peach (Prunus spp.), and pear (Pyrus spp.) are common in northwest Guatemala as low intensity homegardens and are known to increase total farm productivity in communities where farm size is a limiting factor. This study investigated the potential for adoption of fruit-tree-based agroforestry by resource-limited farmers using ethnographic investigation and linear programming simulations of farm activities at the household level. Two communities with differing demographics, infrastructure, and access to regional markets were selected based on the presence of extensive fruit-tree-based agroforestry. The influences of family size, land holdings, and tree and crop yields on the optimal adoption levels of fruit trees were evaluated through a comparative study of the varying social and physical infrastructure present in the two communities. Fruit-tree-based agroforestry was potentially more attractive to relatively prosperous families or those with larger land holdings. Improvements in fruit-tree productivity and interspecies competition were of greater importance where family land holdings were smaller. The inability of families to produce sufficient food to meet annual needs, poor fruit quality, and lack of market infrastructure were identified as constraints that limit adoption. The complementarity of production with the dominant maize (Zea mays) crop, home consumption of fruit, and the potential to generate additional cash on limited land holdings were identified as factors promoting adoption of fruit-tree-based agroforestry.     

Seasonal shoot and needle growth of loblolly pine responds to thinning, fertilization, and crown position

The impacts of thinning, fertilization and crown position on seasonal growth of current-year shoots and foliage were studied in a 13-year-old loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.) plantation in the sixth post-treatment year (1994). Length of new flushes, and their needle length, leaf area, and oven-dry weight were measured in the upper and lower crown from March through November. Total shoot length was the cumulative length of all flushes on a given shoot and total leaf area per shoot was the sum of leaf areas of the flushes.

By the end of June, first-flush foliage reached 70% of the November needle length (14.3 cm) and 65% of the final leaf area (15.0 cm²). Cumulative shoot length of first- and second-flush shoots achieved 95% of the annual length (30.3 cm), whereas total leaf area per shoot was 55% of the final value (75.3 dm²). Fertilization consistently stimulated fascicle needle length, dry weight, and leaf area in the upper crown. Mean leaf area of upper-crown shoots was increased by 64% six years after fertilization. A significant thinning effect was found to decrease mean leaf area per shoot in the crown. For most of the growing season, the thinned-fertilized trees produced substantially more leaf area per shoot throughout the crown than the thinned-nonfertilized trees. These thinned-fertilized trees also had greater needle length and dry weight, longer first flush shoots, and more leaf area per flush than trees in the thinned-nonfertilized plots. Needle length and leaf area of first flush shoots between April and July were linearly related to previous-month canopy air temperature (T_a). Total shoot length strongly depended on vertical light gradient (PPFD) within the canopy, whereas shoot leaf area was a function of both PPFD and T_a. Thus, trees produced larger and heavier fascicles, more and longer flush shoots, and more leaf area per shoot in the upper crown than the lower crown. We conclude that thinning, fertilization, and crown position regulate annual leaf area production of current-year shoots largely by affecting the expansion of first flush shoots and their foliage during the first half of the growing season.     

Identification of soybean strains resistant to Xanthomonas campestris pv. glycines

Summary Soybean germplasm was screened for resistance to bacterial pustule disease. The etiological agent, Xanthomonas campestris pv. glycines, was isolated from the leaves of field grown soybean in Maharashtra, India. The screening of soybean stocks was carried out by excised leaf inoculation method. A differential susceptibility to the pathogen was observed in the tested stocks. Two stocks P-4-2 and P-169-3 were found to be completely resistant to the pathogen and displayed an incompatible reaction. Four cultivars, EC-34160, Bragg, Kalitur and PK-472 displayed moderate resistance and the remaining stocks were susceptible to the attack of the pathogen. The stocks P-4-2 and P-169-3 remained resistant even to a high concentration of 10⁹ colony forming units (cfu)/ml of the pathogen.     

A method for establishing a core collection of Saccharum officinarum L. germplasm based on quantitative-morphological data

A technique is proposed for establishing a representative core collection of S. officinarum accessions from the world collection of sugarcane germplasm maintained at the Sugarcane Breeding Institute-Research Centre, Cannanore, India. In the proposed method, the accessions were first sorted based on their relative contributions to the total variability by means of principal component scores based on a set of quantitative characters. Then, the cumulative proportion of their contributions to the total variance was computed. A logistic regression model was fitted to evaluate the functional relationship between the cumulative proportion of variance and the number of accessions. The size of the core set was decided as the inflection point on that fitted curve, i.e., the point beyond which the rate of increase in cumulative proportion of variability contributed by an accession began to decline. A method for eliminating entries with a high degree of similarity from the selected core set is also proposed.     

An efficient method for the purification and characterization of nematicidal azadirachtins A,B, and H,using MPLC and ESIMS

Azadirachtin A enriched concentrate containing 60% active ingredient (a.i.) was prepared from the methanolic extract of the de-fatted neem (Azadirachta indica A. Juss) seed kernels. Azadirachtins A, B, and H, the three major bioactive constituents of neem seed kernel, were purified from this methanolic concentrate by employing reverse phase medium-pressure liquid chromatography (MPLC), using methanol-water solvent system as an eluant. The three pure azadirachtin congeners thus obtained were characterized by their unique mass spectral fragmentation, using electrospray probe in positive ion mode (ESI). All three azadirachtins exhibited nematicidal and antifungal activities. Azadirachtin B was the most effective against the reniform nematode Rotylenchulus reniformis (EC(50) 96.6 ppm), followed by Azadirachtin A (119.1 ppm) and H (141.2 ppm). At 200-ppm concentration, the test compounds caused 50-65% mortality of Caenorhabditis elegans nematode. Azadirachtin H showed the highest activity against the phytophagous fungi Rhizoctonia solani (EC(50) 63.7 ppm) and Sclerotium rolfsii (EC(50) 43.9 ppm), followed by B and A. The isolation of pure azadirachtins A, B, and H directly by MPLC purification from its concentrate and their characterization by ESIMS are unique and less time-consuming.