MASTER OF SCIENCE IN FORESTRY Faculty of Forestry Kerala Agricultural University 2016

216 Pages·2017·4.87 MB·French

by  Harsha C

INFLUENCE OF PLANTING DENSITY AND PRUNING ON
THERMAL, RADIATIVE AND MOISTURE REGIMES IN
Acacia mangium Willd. STAND

By
HARSHA C
(2013- 17- 110)

THESIS
Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of

MASTER OF SCIENCE IN FORESTRY
Faculty of Forestry
Kerala Agricultural University

Department of Tree Physiology and Breeding
College of Forestry
Vellanikkara, Thrissur- 680656
KERALA, INDIA
2016
DECLARATION

I hereby declare that the thesis entitled “INFLUENCE OF PLANTING
DENSITY AND PRUNING ON THERMAL, RADIATIVE, MOISTURE
REGIMES IN Acacia mangium Willd. STAND” is a bonafide record of research
work done by me during the course of research and the thesis has not previously
formed the basis for the award to me of any degree, diploma, associate ship,
fellowship or other similar title of any other University or Society.

Vellanikkara, Harsha. C
Date: 23/08/2016 (2013-17-110)
CERTIFICATE

Certified that thesis entitled “INFLUENCE OF PLANTING DENSITY AND
PRUNING ON THERMAL, RADIATIVE, MOISTURE REGIMES IN Acacia
mangium Willd. STAND” is a record of research work done independently by Mr.
Harsha. C under my guidance and supervision and that it has not previously formed
the basis for the award of any degree, diploma, fellowship or associate ship to him.

Vellanikkara, Dr. A. V. SANTHOSHKUMAR
Date: 23/8/16 (Chairperson, Advisory Committee)
Professor and Head
Dept. of Tree Physiology and Breeding
College of Forestry
Vellanikkara.
CERTIFICATE

We, the undersigned members of the advisory committee of Mr. Harsha, C.,
a candidate for the degree of Master of Science in Forestry with major in Tree
Physiology and Breeding, agree that the thesis entitled “INFLUENCE OF
PLANTING DENSITY AND PRUNING ON THERMAL, RADIATIVE,
MOISTURE REGIMES IN Acacia mangium Willd. STAND” may be submitted
by Mr. Harsha C., in partial fulfilment of the requirement for the degree.

Dr. A. V. SANTHOSHKUMAR
(Chairperson, Advisory Committee)
Professor and Head
Department of Tree Physiology and Breeding
College of Forestry, Vellanikkara.

Dr. T. K. Kunhamu Dr. K.M. Sunil
(Member, Advisory Committee) (Member, Advisory Committee)
Professor and Head Assistant professor (Agrl. Meteorology)
Dept. of Silviculture and Agroforestry KVK, RARS, Pattambi.
College of Forestry, Vellanikkara.

Dr. Beena. R
(Member, Advisory Committee)
Assistant Professor
Department of Plant Physiology
College of Agriculture, Vellayani. EXTERNAL EXAMINER
(Name and Address)
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Though only my name appears on the cover of this thesis, a great many
people have contributed to its production. I owe my gratitude to all those people
who have made this thesis possible and because of whom my graduate experience
has been one that I will cherish forever.
My deepest gratitude is to my Major Advisor, Dr. A.V. Santhoshkumar. He
is responsible for involving me in this research work in the first place. I have been
amazingly fortunate to have an advisor who gave me the freedom to explore on my
own, and at the same time the guidance to recover when my steps faltered. Santosh
sir showed me different ways to approach a research problem and the need to be
persistent to accomplish any goal. His extreme patience and support helped me
overcome many crisis situations and finish this thesis.
I am deeply indebted to Dr. K. Vidysagaran, Dean, College of Forestry and
Dr. K. Sudhakara (former Dean) for moral support and timely help when I most
needed it.
I am grateful to Dr.T.K. Kunhamu for his insightful comments and
constructive criticisms at different stages of my research were thought-provoking
and they helped me focus my ideas. I am grateful to him for holding me to a high
research standard and enforcing strict validations for each research result, and
thus teaching me how to do research.
A special thanks goes to Dr.K.M. Sunil, who is most responsible for helping
me complete the writing of this thesis as well as the challenging research that lies
behind it. Sunil sir has been a friend and mentor. He taught me how to write thesis,
made me a better programmer, had confidence in me when I doubted myself, and
brought out the good ideas in me. Without his encouragement and constant
guidance, I could not have finished this thesis. He was always there to meet and
talk about my ideas, to proofread and mark up my thesis chapters, and to ask me
good questions to help me think through my problems.
I would like to express my very sincere gratitude to Dr. Beena .R for his
encouragement and practical advice. I am also thankful to her for reading my
thesis, commenting on my views and helping me understand and enrich my ideas.
Besides my advisors, I would like to thank the rest of my thesis committee. I
give my sincere thanks to Dr. N. K. Vijaykumar, Dr. P. K. Ashokan , Dr. Ajith
Kumar, Dr. Nandini, Dr. Jiji Joseph, Dr. Kurein, Dr. V. Jamaludheen, and Mr
Binu. N. Kamalolbhavan, Dr. E. V. Anoop, Dr. S. Gopakumar and Dr. P. O.
Nameer, for their well- timed guidance and help.
The present research project had been able to pursue with the research
grant funded by Kerala Agricultural University. The facilities as well as relevant
information required for the study was provided by the All India Co-ordinated
Project on Agroforestry. Technical support and facilities for estimating the water
use efficiency of leaf samples was provided by Dept. Crop Physiology, UAS,
Bengaluru. I am grateful to the Livestock Research Station of Kerala Veterinary
and Animal Sciences University for the generosity meted out to me during my
sojourn in the station for the research work.
I am thankful to my junior friend Laxmi who dedicated her precious time
for grammatical editing of my thesis. I also would like to give my gratitude to my
lovely roommates, Mr Ringyao Jajo, Mir Faizan Anwar and seniors, Dr.
Manjunath (Danger sir) and Dr. Bhimappa for the time with laughter and mutual
encouragement during my stay at the Periyar hostel.
I am thankful to Darshan Gowda (baby), Shridhar Gowda for helping me at any
time, and solving any unsolvable problems during my field and lab works (You guys
are Great!). Thank you, Naresh! Jeeevan, Anand, Ramesh, Deepak, Abhijith,
Niyas, Binu, Bill nelson, Vikas Kumar, Yashma, Kiran, Sathyabratha, Abhijith ,
Bharath, Mayur, Prathibha, Madhu and all my friends (my friends, you know who
you are, thank you!) for your help. . I’m grateful to all of them

Last, but not least, I thank my family: my parents, Channanja and Padma, sister
Apoorva, brother Darshan Kumar and monks of Ramakrishna Mission for
unconditional support and encouragement to pursue my interests, even when the
interests went beyond boundaries of language, field and geography. I’m grateful to
my senior Harsha Chandra for sharing his experience of the thesis writing
endeavour with me, for listening to my complaints and frustrations, and for
believing in me.
I would like to thank all those people who made this thesis possible and an
unforgettable experience for me.

Harsha. C
(2013-17-110)
TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER NO. TITLE PAGE NO.

1 INTRODUCTION 1-3

2 REVIEW OF LITERATURE 4-31

3 MATERIALS AND METHODS 32-38

4 RESULTS 39-92

5 DISCUSSION 93-111

6 SUMMARY 112-117

7 REFERENCES i-xxx

8 APPENDICES

9 ABSTARCT
LIST OF TABLES

Table no. Title Page No.

1 Weather parameters during the experimental period (December 2014 32
to November 2015) at Thiruvizhamkunnu, Kerala, India

2 Air temperature at 5 m and 10 m above the ground level in Acacia 42
mangium stand as influenced by planting density and pruning at
Thiruvizhamkunnu, Kerala, India

3 Soil temperature at 5 cm ,10 cm and 20 cm depth in Acacia mangium 48
stand as influenced by planting density and pruning at
Thiruvizhamkunnu, Kerala, India

4 Canopy-air temperature differential (CATD) in Acacia mangium stand 52
as influenced by planting density and pruning at Thiruvizhamkunnu,
Kerala, India

5 Relative humidity at 5 m and 10 m above the ground level in Acacia 56
mangium stand as influenced by planting density and pruning at
Thiruvizhamkunnu, Kerala, India

6 Soil moisture content at 5 cm ,10 cm, 20 cm and 30 cm depth in Acacia 62
mangium stand as influenced by planting density and pruning at
Thiruvizhamkunnu, Kerala, India

7 Relative water content in Acacia mangium stand as influenced by 69
planting density and pruning at Thiruvizhamkunnu, Kerala, India

8 Evapotranspiration in Acacia mangium stand as influenced by planting 72
density and pruning at Thiruvizhamkunnu, Kerala, India

9 PAR at 5 m and 10 m height above the ground level in Acacia mangium 76
stand as influenced by planting density and pruning at
Thiruvizhamkunnu, Kerala, India
LIST OF TABLES (Contd.)

Table no. Title Page No.

10 The PAR transmittance values for various planting densities and 81
pruning levels in Acacia mangium stand at Thiruvizhamkunnu, Kerala,
India

11 Effect of planting density and pruning on tree growth, biomass and 85
water use efficiency (WUE) in Acacia mangium stand at
Thiruvizhamkunnu, Kerala, India

12 The stand leaf area index as influenced by planting density and pruning 87
in Acacia mangium stand at Thiruvizhamkunnu, Kerala, India

13 Correlations between leaf area index (LAI) and microclimate variables 89

14 88
Correlations between soil temperature and soil moisture content

15 90
Correlation between CATD with ET, RWC, and SMC

91
Correlation between soil moisture and other microclimate variables
16

92
Correlation between growth parameters and microclimate variables
17
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure Page
No. Title No.

1 Experimental layout of Acacia mangium stand showing different planting density 34
and pruning treatments at Thiruvizhamkunnu, Kerala.

2 Weekly variation of air temperature at the height of 5 m above the ground level in 43
Acacia mangium stand as influenced by planting density at Thiruvizhamkunnu,
Kerala, India

3 Weekly variation of air temperature at the height of 10 m above the ground level in 44
Acacia mangium stand as influenced by planting density at Thiruvizhamkunnu,
Kerala, India

4 Weekly variation of soil temperature at 5 cm depth in Acacia mangium stand as 49
influenced by planting density at Thiruvizhamkunnu, Kerala, India

5 Weekly variation of soil temperature at 10 cm depth in Acacia mangium stand as 50
influenced by planting density at Thiruvizhamkunnu, Kerala, India

6 Weekly variation of soil temperature at 20 cm depth in Acacia mangium stand as 51
influenced by planting density at Thiruvizhamkunnu, Kerala, India

7 Weekly variation of canopy-air temperature differential in Acacia mangium stand 53
as influenced by planting density at Thiruvizhamkunnu, Kerala, India

8 Weekly variation of relative humidity at the height of 5 m above the ground level 57
in Acacia mangium stand as influenced by planting density at Thiruvizhamkunnu,
Kerala, India

9 Weekly variation of relative humidity at the height of 10 above the ground level in 58
Acacia mangium stand as influenced by planting density at Thiruvizhamkunnu,
Kerala, India

10 Weekly variation of soil moisture content at 5 cm depth in Acacia mangium stand 63
as influenced by planting density at Thiruvizhamkunnu, Kerala, India