Growth Characteristics, Biomass and Chlorophyll Fluorescence Variation of Garhwal Himalaya’s Fodder and Fuel Wood Tree Species at the Nursery Stage

doi:10.4236/ojf.2013.31003

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Open Journal of Forestry

2013. Vol.3, No.1, 12-16

Published Online January 2013 in SciRes (http://www.scirp.org/journal/ojf) http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/ojf.2013.31003

Growth Characteristics, Biomass and Chlorophyll Fluorescence

Variation of Garhwal Himalaya’s Fodder and Fuel Wood Tree

Species at the Nursery Stage

Azamal Husen

Department of Biology, Faculty of Natural and Computational Sciences, University of Gondar, Gondar, Ethiopia

Email: [email protected]

Received November 12th, 2012; revised December 16th, 2012; accepted December 26th, 2012

Fodder and fuel wood deficiency in the Himalayan region is well recognized. Rural inhabitants are ex-

ploiting these forest resources for their livelihood for generations which leads to severe deforestation. The

aim of this study was to identify the fast growing fodder and fuel wood tree species of Garhwal Himala-

yas at nursery stage with wider relevance and great potential for extensive afforestation programmes.

Seed of Bauhinia purpurea L., Bauhinia retusa Roxb., Bauhinia variegate L., Celtis australis L., Ficus

nemoralis Wall., Ficus roxburghii Wall., Grewia optiva Drummond, Leucaena leucocephala (Lam.) de

Wit, Melia azedarach L., Ougeinia oojeinensis (Roxb.) Hochr., Quercus leucotrichophora A. Camus,

Terminalia alata Heyne ex Roth. and Toona ciliate M. Roem. were collected from the superior trees and

seedlings were raised. After one year and one month of establishment at the nursery, the growth charac-

teristics, biomass and chlorophyll fluorescence (dark-adopted Fv/Fm) of each species were also recorded.

G. optiva had shown the highest growth in terms of height, basal diameter increment and number of

branches, while production of leaves was more on O. oojeinensis. Biomass and chlorophyll fluorescence

(maximum quantum yield or photochemical efficiency of PSII) was found highest in Q. leucotrichophora

which indicates photosynthetically this species was most active among the studied fodder and fuel wood

tree species. The information in this communication could be utilized for developing various conservation

and sustainable strategies in the Garhwal Himalayas to mitigate the scarcity of fodder and fuel wood pro-

duction.

Keywords: Scarcity; Fodder and Fuel Wood Species; Screening; Growth; Biomass; Chlorophyll

Fluorescence

Introduction

The rural population of the Himalayan region have been ex-

ploiting forest resources for their livelihood for generations.

The excessive and uncontrolled use of fodder and fuel wood

has ended up with severe deforestation. In Garhwal Himalaya,

about 77.4% of the total human population is rural (Anony-

mous, 1991). Several hilly regions of Garhwal Himalayas, the

rural inhabitants, mostly women’s are use to spend about 60

percent of their daytime for collection of fodder and fuel wood,

and for this purpose they often travel 5 - 10 km distances per

day. The foliage of tree forms is the key source of green fodder

during dry months as the major areas is rain fed and no green

fodder is grown in agricultural fields (Husen & Nautiyal, 2004).

Moreover, for rural inhabitants due to poor connectivity with

the urban areas, the alternative sources of fuel wood are not

easily accessible consequently making the population to totally

depend on wood resources (Bhatt et al., 2004); and it is evident

that most of this demand is met from the adjoining forests al-

most uninterrupted (Shah, 1982; Khoshoo, 1987), and biomass

(i.e. fuelwood and fodder) extraction is the major reason for

such depletions (Singh, 1998). Most of the fodder and fuel

wood tree species of Garhwal Himalayas are under stress be-

cause of unplanned or unscientific lopping (Husen & Nautiyal,

2004). It has been remembered that the improvement and pres-

ervation of life in the third world will largely depend on the

presences of forest and also availability of fuel wood (Perschel,

1991). Therefore, to meet this critical requirement of fodder

and fuel wood tree species, and to reduce the pressure on natu-

ral forests stand, there is a strong need to screen the fast grow-

ing fodder and fuel wood tree species in hilly regions of Garh-

wal Himalayas.

Growth characteristics and photosynthetic efficiency or chlo-

rophyll fluorescence have been used to select high-quality seed-

lings or clones for a particular environment (Husen et al., 2004a;

Husen, 2009). Chlorophyll fluorescence is a useful physiologi-

cal test to detect perturbation of leaf metabolism and growth of

seedling because it is a noninvasive, nondestructive and rapid

procedure (Barbagallo et al., 2003). The chlorophyll fluores-

cence rises rapidly from a ground state (Fo) when all electron

acceptors are fully oxidized, to a maximum fluorescence level

(Fm) when electron acceptors are highly reduced and unable to

accept and transfer electrons. Chlorophyll fluorescence then de-

creased slowly to a steady state (Fs) as photo-chemistry and

CO2 assimilation increased (Krause & Weis, 1991). The ratio of

maximum variable florescence Fv/Fm (where, Fv = Fm − Fo) is

linearly correlated with the quantum yield of net photosynthesis

(Krause & Somersalo, 1989) and thus may be a good measure

of seedling vigour (Husen, 2009). Chlorophyll fluorescence has

also been used as a diagnostic tool to study the various envi-

A. HUSEN

ronmental stresses (Ashraf et al., 2004; Yin et al., 2005; Husen,

2010), genotypic variation (Janssen et al., 1995; Husen, 2009),

altitudinal variation (Husen et al., 2004a) and species specific

diurnal changes (Husen et al., 2004b). Therefore, chlorophyll

fluorescence is a sound method to diagnose seedling stock

quality (Mohammed et al., 1995; Barbagallo et al., 2003; Husen,

2009). There is no report available on screening of fast growing

indigenous fodder and fuel wood tree species growing at nurs-

ery stage, considering the growth, biomass and physiological

characteristic features. Therefore, this research paper focuses

extensive attention on these parameters to identify the best and

fast growing fodder and fuel wood tree species of Garhwal

Himalayas with wider relevance and great potential for affore-

station programmes.

Material and Methods

Experimental Site

The experiments were conducted at the Plant Physiology nur-

sery of New Forest campus, Forest Research Institute (FRI),

Dehra Dun, Uttarakhand (UK), India. The FRI campus is lo-

cated in Doon Valley and is surrounded by Western Lesser Hi-

malayan ranges in the North and Shiwalik ranges in the South.

This campus covers an area of 4.45 km2, and lies at an elevation

of 640 m above mean sea level. It is situated on North Latitude

30˚20'40" and East Longitude 77˚52'12" on the northern limit

of the Oriental region.

Plant Materials

For quality planting material, the seeds of Bauhinia purpurea

L., Bauhinia retusa Roxb., Bauhinia variegate L., Celtis aus-

tralis L., Ficus nemoralis Wall., Ficus roxburghii Wall.,

Grewia optiva Drummond, Leucaena leucocephala (Lam.) de

Wit, Melia azedarach L., Ougeinia oojeinensis (Roxb.) Hochr.,

Quercus leucotrichophora A. Camus, Terminalia alata Heyne

ex Roth. and Toona ciliate M. Roem. were collected from the

phenotypically superior trees in different localities under re-

serve forest/plantation/agroforestry areas of Garhwal regions,

Uttaranchal, India. The superiority percentage was calculated

following Wright (1976) as: S = (C/A × 100) − 100; where, S is

superiority percentages, C is value for Candidate Plus Tree’s

and is stand for average value of five comparison trees. The de-

tails of the selected superior tree species from which seeds were

collected are mentioned in Table 1.

Nursery Dev elop ment and Experimental Design

Nursery was developed to identify and screen fast growing

fodder and fuel wood tree species at New Forest campus, FRI,

Dehra Dun, UK, India. Seeds obtained from the superior tree

were carefully examined for disease free status and shown in

plastic tray for germination. When seeds were germinated;

these were transplanted to the polybags in mid June, 2002. The

polybags were filled with the mixture of soil, sand and farm-

yard manure in the 2:1:1 ratio and the total weight of the me-

dium was 1.50 kg. The planting medium had 0.120, 0.024 and

0.31 percent nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium respectively.

These polybags with plantlets were acclimatized in green house.

The upper portion of the green house was covered with green

plastic shade, while the other parts remained open. Following 2

months of acclimatization all polybags were shifted to an open

environment prevailing at New Forest campus. These plantlets

were maintained carefully by regular watering and weeding.

Complete protection was provided against diseases and insects

by foliar spray with insecticides and fungicides, as and when

required. The completely randomized factorial design (CRD)

was used for this experimentation. Five replications with ten

seedlings (5 × 10 = 50 seedling per species) were used.

Growth and Biomass Studies

After one year and one month (July, 2003) observation on

growth namely height (cm) was measured from the ground line

of polybags up to the tip of each species. Similarly, the ground

line basal diameter (mm), number of leaves (in number) and

Table 1.

Detail characteristics of phenotypically superior fodder and fuel wood trees species.

Species name Height

(in meter)

Girth at breast height

(in meter)

Clear bole

(in meter)

Crown area

(in meter2) Place of collection

Bauhinia purpurea L. 13.10 0.95 2.78 8.58 New Forest campus, FRI, Dehra Dun

Bauhinia variegate L. 12.62 0.93 2.63 9.03 Kanwali Garden, Dehra Dun

Bauhinia retusa Roxb. 10.10 0.80 2.70 7.26 Chakrata Forest Division, Dehra Dun

Celtis australis L. 16.52 1.70 6.00 9.50 Chakrata Forest Division, Dehra Dun

Ficus nemoralis Wall. 8.30 0.88 0.66 8.29 Gopeshwar, Chamoli

Ficus roxburghii Wall. 11.60 1.14 1.19 8.05 Gauchar, Chamoli

Grewia optiva Drummond 9.60 0.78 1.95 7.56 Dhaulas, Dehra Dun

Leucaena le ucocepha la (Lam.) de Wit 14.28 1.19 3.78 6.57 New Forest campus, FRI, Dehra Dun

Melia azedarac h L. 16.00 1.39 4.51 11.70 Kanwali Garden, Dehra Dun

Quercus leucotrichophora A. Camus 19.30 1.05 4.31 9.63 Chakrata Forest Division, Dehra Dun

Ougeinia oojein ensis (Roxb.) Hochr. 10.44 1.34 3.02 7.21 Ban Chetna Kendra, Mussoorie, Dehra Dun

Terminalia alata Heyne ex Roth 27.50 1.25 8.37 12.80 New Forest campus, FRI, Dehra Dun

Toona ciliate M. Roem 21.50 1.82 7.50 9.66 New Forest campus, FRI, Dehra Dun

A. HUSEN

number of branch (in number) were recorded. Thereafter, at the

same time the destructive sampling were performed for biomass

(the total dry weight of each seedling in gm). Total dry mass/or

dry weight of each seedling was obtained after placing the root,

stem and leaves in an oven at 70˚C for 48 h.

Chlorophyll Fluorescence Measurements

The chlorophyll fluorescence of each species were recorded

during 10:00 to 11:00 hrs on cloud free conditions over a period

of 2 days with the help of portable Hansatech Plant Efficiency

Analyser (Hansatech, King’s Lynn, England) in first week of

July, 2003 (Table 2). For chlorophyll fluorescence, data was

analyzed taking three replication of each species. Approxi-

mately, the 5th leaf from top was darkened with leaf clips for

twenty minutes before the measurement. Then values of Fv/Fm

(chlorophyll fluorescence) at ambient temperature were noted

(Husen, 2009).

Statistical Analysis

Statistical analysis was carried out with the Statistical Pack-

age for Social Sciences (SPSS) software package version 6.1.3.

A fixed-effects model was used for statistical analyses. The

data recorded on the growth, i.e. height, the ground line basal

diameter, number of leaves, number of branches and biomass

were subjected to one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) to

test the significant variation among the different fodder and fuel

wood species. In the ANOVA, the mean values of each replica-

tion were estimated. Mean values were compared by using

Tukey’s test at the p ≤ 0.05 level. Chlorophyll fluorescence

measurement of each fodder and fuel wood species contained

three replications, and each replicate had a mean value of five

plants (3 × 5), therefore, 15 seedlings were measured from each

species. As mentioned previously that the chlorophyll fluores-

cence was measured over a period of 2 days and therefore, the

mean data for 2 days were pooled for one way ANOVA analy-

ses. For the comparison of chlorophyll fluorescence means

Tukey’s test was used at the p ≤ 0.05 level of significance.

Results and Discussion

All studied parameters have shown significant variation (Ta-

ble 3). Seedling of G. optiva at nursery stage exhibited maxi-

mum height (119.34 cm) and basal diameter (16.84 mm) incre-

ment in comparison to other fodder and fuel wood species.

However, minimum height and basal diameter increment were

recorded in O. oojeinensis (41.54 cm) and C. australis (4.13

mm), respectively (Figures 1 and 2). In addition, G. optiva was

also found best in terms of number of branches while M.

azedarach and T. ciliate showed least number of branches; and

F. roxburghii, have not shown any branch (Figure 3). Produc-

tions of maximum number of leaves were found in O. oojeinen-

sis (40.46) followed by B. purpurea (32.47), G. optiva (27.47)

and F. nemoralis (26.63), while minimum number of leaves

was observed with T. ciliate (6.22) (Figure 4). Studies on total

dry mass production recorded highest in L. leucocephala (24.97

g) and lowest in Q. leucotrichophora (8.18 g) seedlings (Figure

5). Performance on the growth characteristics of fodder and fuel

wood tree species at nursery stage varied significantly and may

be attributed to adaptation because the seedlings from all the

sources were raised under identical conditions (Singh & Pok-

hriyal, 2000). Furthermore, Sniezko & Stewart (1989) reported

that provenance variation in growth characteristics is essentially

genetic in nature. Biomass production of studied seedlings var-

ied significantly. This variation can be associated with the ad-

aptation mechanism of different species and seed source origin.

Similar observations have also been examined in many other

species by several investigators (Salazar, 1989; Bindroo et al.,

1990; Singh et al., 2006).

Chlorophyll fluorescence study exhibited significant varia-

tion in photochemical efficiency in PS II as it was recorded as

Fv/Fm ratio on fully developed leaves in sunny days. Q. leuco-

trichophora was found to be photosynthetically most efficient

species while B. variegate was exhibited least Fv/Fm ratio (Fig-

ure 6). The extent of chlorophyll fluorescence variation in se-

lected fodder and fuel wood tree species was probably due to

the specific liking of individual species or/environmental con-

ditions. Several explanation have been given for variation in

chlorophyll fluorescence, such as it might be due to low tem-

perature (Hardacre & Greer, 1989), low irradiance (Janssen et

al., 1995) and/or other environmental conditions (Parker &

Mohammed, 2000; Husen et al., 2004a, 2004b) were observed

by several researchers. It was interesting to note that both total

biomass and chlorophyll fluorescence was higher in Q. leuco-

Table 2.

Meteorological data during chlorophyll fluorescence (Fv/Fm) measurements.

Relative humidity (%)

Temperature (˚C)

hr.

Rainfall (mm)Evaporation (mm)Bright sunshine (hrs) Mean wind velocity (Km/hr)

Date

Max. Min. Mean 719 1419

July 28, 2003 34.1 24.9 27.9 92 78 1.6 4.1 4.0 1.7

July 29, 2003 32.0 23.0 26.6 95 70 22.8 2.1 5.3 1.8

Table 3.

Analysis of variance for height, basal diameter, number of leaves, number of branches, dry mass and chlorophyll fluorescence.

Mean square

Source of variation Df

Height Basal diameter Number of leavesNumber of branchesDry mass Chlorophyll fluorescence

Species 12 3195.68** 60.84** 551.87** 49.96** 119.92** 0.0059**

Error 52 3.23 0.04 0.94 0.04 0.28 0.0002

Note: **reflect significant at the p ≤ 0.01

A. HUSEN

100

120

140

Bp BvBrCa FnFrGoLlMaQlOo TaTc

fef

Figure 1.

Variation in height (in cm) of fodder and fuel wood tree species (Bp =

Bauhinia purpurea, Bv = Bauhinia variegate, Br = Bauhinia retusa,

Ca = Celtis australis, Fn = Ficus nemoralis, Fr = Ficus roxburghii, Go

= Grewia optiva, Ll = Leucaena leucocephala, Ma = Melia azedarach,

Ql = Quercus leucotrichophora, Oo = Ougeinia oojeinensis, Ta =

Terminalia alata and Tc = Toona ciliate). Values followed by the

same letter indicate no significant differences at p < 0.05 level ac-

cording to Tukey’s test. Each value represents the mean ± SE of five

replicates.

Bp BvBrCa FnFrGoLlMaQlOo TaTc

Figure 2.

Variation in basal diameter (in mm) of fodder and fuel wood tree spe-

cies (Bp = Bauhinia purpurea, Bv = Bauhinia variegate, Br = Bau-

hinia retusa, Ca = Celtis australis, Fn = Ficus nemoralis, Fr = Ficus

roxburghii, Go = Grewia optiva, Ll = Leucaena leucocephala, Ma =

Melia azedarach, Ql = Quercus leucotrichophora, Oo = Ougeinia

oojeinensis, Ta = Terminalia alata and Tc = Toona ciliate). Values

followed by the same letter indicate no significant differences at p <

0.05 level according to Tukey’s test. Each value represents the mean ±

SE of five replicates.

BpBvBrCaFn FrGo Ll Ma QlOoTaTc

Figure 3.

Variation in number of branches of fodder and fuel wood tree species

(Bp = Bauhinia purpurea, Bv = Bauhinia variegate, Br = Bauhinia

retusa, Ca = Celtis australis, Fn = Ficus nemoralis, Fr = Ficus rox-

burghii, Go = Grewia optiva, Ll = Leucaena leucocephala, Ma =

Melia azedarach, Ql = Quercus leucotrichophora, Oo = Ougeinia

oojeinensis, Ta = Terminalia alata and Tc = Toona ciliate). Values

followed by the same letter indicate no significant differences at p <

0.05 level according to Tukey’s test. Each value represents the mean

± SE of five replicates.

Bp BvBrCa FnFrGoLlMaQlOoTaTc

Figure 4.

Variation in number of leaves of fodder and fuel wood tree species (Bp

= Bauhinia purpurea, Bv = Bauhinia variegate, Br = Bauhinia retusa,

Ca = Celtis australis, Fn = Ficus nemoralis, Fr = Ficus rox- burghii, Go

= Grewia optiva, Ll = Leucaena leucocephala, Ma = Melia azedarach,

Ql = Quercus leucotrichophora, Oo = Ougeinia oojeinensis, Ta = Ter-

minalia alata and Tc = Toona ciliate). Values followed by the same

letter indicate no significant differences at p < 0.05 level according to

Tukey’s test. Each value represents the mean ± SE of five replicates.

BpBvBrCaFnFrGoLl MaQlOoTa Tc

Figure 5.

Variation in total dry mass (in gm) of fodder and fuel wood tree species

(Bp = Bauhinia purpurea, Bv = Bauhinia variegate, Br = Bauhinia

retusa, Ca = Celtis australis, Fn = Ficus nemoralis, Fr = Ficus rox-

burghii, Go = Grewia optiva, Ll = Leucaena leucocephala, Ma = Melia

azedarach, Ql = Quercus leucotrichophora, Oo = Ougeinia oojeinensis,

Ta = Terminalia alata and Tc = Toona ciliate). Values followed by the

same letter indicate no significant differences at p < 0.05 level accord-

ing to Tukey’s test. Each value represents the mean ± SE of five repli-

cates.

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.8

0.9

BpBvBr CaFn Fr GoLl MaQlOoTaTc

Fv/F

e cd

babbb

Figure 6.

Variation in chlorophyll fluorescence (Fv/Fm) of fodder and fuel wood

tree species (Bp = Bauhinia purpurea, Bv = Bauhinia variegate Bv =

Bauhinia retusa, Ca = Celtis australis, Fn = Ficus nemoralis, Fr =

Ficus roxburghii, Go = Grewia optiva, Ll = Leucaena leucocephala,

Ma = Melia azedarach, Ql = Quercus leucotrichophora, Oo = Ouge-

inia oojeinensis, Ta = Terminalia alata and Tc = To ona ci liate). Values

followed by the same letter indicate no significant differences at p <

0.05 level according to Tukey’s test. Each value represents the mean ±

SE of five replicates.

A. HUSEN

trichophora; which is supported by more carbon assimilation.

Physiological characterization (chlorophyll fluorescence) has

been used more in stock quality assessment (Mohammed et al.,

1995; Husen, 2009) because this test is noninvasive, nonde-

structive and rapid (Vidaver et al., 1989). However, in this

finding Q. leucotrichophora was photosynthetically most active

plants while G. optiva exhibited maximum growth in terms of

height and basal diameter at the nursery stage. Hence, selection

for plantation of Q. leucotrichophora and G. optiva around

agricultural fields in different agroforestry systems of Garhwal

Himalaya for rapid growth and higher biomass production can

be advantageous. In addition, Q. leucotrichophora and G. op-

tiva also recommended as a fast growing fodder and fuel wood

tree species for Garhwal Himalayas which leads with wider

relevance and great potential for extensive afforestation pro-

grammes.

Acknowledgements

Financial assistance by National Agricultural Technology

Project (ICAR), New Delhi, India is gratefully acknowledged. I

thank Dr. Laxmi Rawat, Forest Research Institute (FRI), Dehra

Dun, India for meteorological data.

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