STATUS OF TROPICAL TREE SEED PROBLEMS IN INDIA- CHALLENGES

AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR GERMPLASM CONSERVATION AND SUSTAINABLE

UTILISATION

B. GurudevSinghScientist

Institute of Forest Genetics and Tree Breeding

Coimbatore

Species Diversity

Seed Problems

Species identified by APFORGEN

Phytogeographic regions of India

Western Himalayas

Eastern Himalayas

Indus plain

Gangetic plain

Assam

Central India

Malabar

Decaan

Andamans

Western ghats

Location :

8 40 N latitude

73 to 77 E Longitude

Extent : 1600 km long with 5 to 10 km breadth

Highest peak : Anaimudi in Kerala, 2652

States covered :

Gujarat, Maharastra, Goa,Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala

Floristic regions :

1. Western ghats from River Tapti to Goa

2. Kalinadi to Coorg

3. Nilgiris

4. Anamallai, Palani and Cardamom hills

Out of the total 2,40,000 species , about 45,000species

occur in India

Out of 45,000 species of plants about 15,000 are vascular

plants, 600 Pteridophytes, 2700 Bryophytes, 5000 Algae,

20,000Fungi,and 1600 Lichens

Of these 15000 flowering plants,Western ghats account

for 3500 species. Of these about, 490 are arborescent

taxa

Flora of Western ghats

Western ghats of Tamil Nadu and Kerala

CPT for higher fruit yield

What to conserve

Branch of a CPT

140 fruits/foot length of branch

They were identified after proper comparison of fruit yield with the check trees

of the same diameter class growing around the CPT.

Seeds of various seed sources

Dharmapuri source Tanjore source

Tirunelveli source Thiruvannamalai source

Variation in Fruit weight

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

50 70 90 110

130

150

170

190

210

230

250

270

Weight (g)

Fre

qu

en

cy

Variation in Seed Weight

0

5

10

15

20

25

301 3 5 7 9

11

13

15

17

Weight(g)

Fre

qu

en

cy

Variation in fruit to seed ratio

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24

Fruit to seed ratio

Fre

qu

en

cy

Highest ratio 21.06 (in Karur, tree no 2)

Variation in Azadirachtin content

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

201

50

0

25

00

35

00

45

00

55

00

65

00

75

00

85

00

95

00

10

50

0

11

50

0

12

50

0

13

50

0

14

50

0

Azadirachtin content in ppm

Fre

qu

en

cy

Highest Azadirachtin content 14524 ppm(in Karur, tree no 9)

Variation in oil content

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

6 12 18 24 30 36 42 48

Oil content (%)

Fre

qu

en

cy

Highest oil content 51.8% (in Tiruvannamalai, tree no 4)

DIFFICULTIES WITH TREE SEED RESEARCH

Poor viability

Considerable dormancy

Full germination can take a long time

Non-homogeneous seed lots

Limited seed supply

Variable supply (Inter-Annual Variation)

The seed collection is usually taken as a last minute activity

Invariably the seed collection is entrusted to a private contractor or to the lowest cadre personal.

The seeds are collected from whatever easily available source.

To meet the target, all the seeds are collected from the whatever trees available, sometimes all the fruits from a single tree.

The money for collection of seeds is paid based on the weight (Quantity), rather on quality

The cost of seed in a plantation programme is less than 1% of total plantation activity.

It costs just the same whether you establish the plantation from a good seed or bad seed, but there is remarkable difference in the gains.

COLLECTION OF SEEDS

SEED COLLECTION

What to collect and how to identify the species in the

field

Where to collect, by studying the distribution of the

species

When to collect, by studying the fruiting and

flowering characterstics

How much seed is to be collected

What methods should be followed for collection of

seeds

Treetypes/varieties