Relative Performance of Some Accessions of Casuarina spp. and Silvicultural Practices on Saline Waterlogged Soils in Semiarid Conditions

Field studies in four different sets of experiment on two aspects of Casuarina spp., silvicultural practices and salt tolerance, were conducted at experimental farm Sampla near Rohtak (Haryana) of Central Soil Salinity Research Institute, Karnal, India for 4 to 11 years duration in sandy saline waterlogged soils. Furrow planting method showed better performance over ridge-trench and subsurface planting methods. Tree saplings of 13 months old performed better than 9-month-old saplings. A useful effect of seepage up to 7 m distance from the canal water storage channel on the overall performance of Casuarina equisetifolia was observed due to the dilution effect of salt concentration (from ECe 26.2 to 7.9, 11.1, 13.8, and 19.9 dS m -1 ) in 0-1.2m soil depth at 1, 3, 5, and 7m distance, respectively, and there was virtually no survival beyond 7m distance from the water storage channel. The favorable effect of dilution of salt content boosted the growth of plants positioned near the channel. Performance of six Casuarina accessions (bearing CSIRO seedlot numbers) was studied in one of the sets. C. glauca 13987 showed better performance over the remaining accessions with estimated 71.55Mg ha -1 biomass as compared to 66.03, 47.99, 30.62, 4.59, and 3.56Mg ha -1 by C. glauca 13144, C. obesa 13162, C. equisetifolia 14196, C. obesa 13218, and C. cunninghamiana 13511. Prediction equations for biomass of trees were also derived and approximate R 2 values ranged from 0.82-0.99 which were close to accurate (P = 0.05 and 0.01 levels of significance). A good inverse correlation was observed between tree height ( R = 0.81), diameter ( R = 0.76) of Casuarina equisetifolia and soil salinity. The results provide a sound base for successful afforestation program in sandy saline waterlogged soils by planting promising accessions of Casuarina providing canal water storage channels at a distance of 14m (7m both sides) with older saplings. The promising accessions, such as Casuarina glauca 13987, 13144, and C. obesa 13162, can be grown satisfactorily to ECe 20 dS m -1 .

Keywords:

• Biomass Prediction
• Cunninghamiana
• Equisetifolia
• Obesa
• Casuarina
• Glauca
• Furrow Planting
• Seepage
• Salinity
• Waterlogging
• Sapling Age