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ThesisItem Open Access Ecology of the birds of the high altitude grassland-shola forests(College of Forestry, Vellanikkara, 2001) Radhakrishnan, P; KAU; Nameer, P OThe shola forests are unique montane vegetation occupying temperate habitats in tropical latitudes and are regarded as relict communities. These forests are high altitude gallery forests restricted to valleys, depressions and especially along folds of hills and watercourses. The shola-grassland ecosystem is unique vegetation type found in Western Ghats. Unfortunately very few studies have been conducted on the fauna and flora of this unique ecosystem, particularly avifauna. A study was conducted to give some insight into the birds of the shola-grassland ecosystem and their association with the vegetation of the high altitude area. The study was conducted at the Mannavan Shola of the Marayur range, Munnar division Kerala (10° 10' to 10° 12' N latitudes and 77° 09' to 77° 12' E longitudes), which is the largest shola forest area of the Kerala State. Two study sites were identified in the study area, such as "Shola upper" and "Shola lower". The distance sampling method was used in equidistant points identified at each study sites in a 1000 m transect and the points were periodically monitored. Apart from the birds the vegetation structure of the study location was also studied to understand whether there is any relationship occur between the birds and the vegetation. Total of 41 species in 8 orders and 17 families have been reported from the Mannavan Shola. This includes 26 species of resident birds, out of which 8 are endemic to Western Ghats, and 7 species that are long distance migrants. The different measures like the richness, the and the diversity indices, difference. evenness locations shown any significant the two study The similarity indices worked out were also shown that the both sites are much similar. It was also found that the most abundant bird species were the denser species also. The correlation study shown that, bird species richness, bird diversity and bird density correlated negatively with different structural parameters of the vegetation. Another notable observation was that the high altitude grassland dependant species were totally absent from the study sites. This could be owing to the conversion of the grasslands in the study site to wattle plantation.ThesisItem Open Access Effect of shade levels on growth and vigour of seedlings of terminalia species in the nursery(Department of tree physiology and breeding, College of Forestry, Vellanikkara, 2002) Prasad, G; KAU; Gopikumar, KThe present study was undertaken at the College of Forestry, Kerala Agricultural University, Vellanikkara, Thrissur during the period from 2000 to 2002 to evaluate the effect of various shade levels on the growth and vigour of seedlings of tembavu [Terminalia tomentosa var. crenulata (Roth.) C1.], thanni [t bellirica (Gaertn.) Roxb.] and neermaruthu [T. arjuna (Roxb. ex DC.) Wt. & Am.] in the nursery. The study revealed that in general, in all the species examined, shade exerted significant influence on growth and vigour of the seedlings in the nursery. In T. tomentosa and T. bellirica, 50 per cent shade produced best results with regard to shoot growth parameters like height and collar girth while in T. arjuna, 75 per cent shade was found to be most ideal with regard to these growth parameters. In general, in all the species, seedlings grown under 75 per cent shade produced maximum leaf number and area. The root growth parameters viz., length and spread . were found to be the maximum when grown under 50 per cent shade in T. tomntosa and T. bellirica, while 75 per cent was found to be the best for T. arjuna. Similarly, 50 per cent shade was found to be better for T. bellirica and T. tomentosa withregard to biomass production. However, T. arjuna responded well to 75 per cent shade in this regard. No clear cut trend was seen in the chlorophyll production with regard to the different shade levels in any of the three species studied. However, chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b and total chlorophyll content was slightly higher when grown under 75 per cent shade conditions. The highest number of stomata was seen when the plants were grown under full sunlight. In all the species, the nitrogen content was found to be highest for seedlings grown under 75 per cent shade while the highest potassium content was recorded when grown under 50 per cent shade. However with regard to the phosphorus concentration, 25 per cent shade was found to perform better in T. tomentosa and T. arjuna while 50 per cent performed better in T. bellirica.ThesisItem Open Access Response of sandal (Santalum album Linn.) seedlings to shade and mycorrhizal association(Department of tree physiology and breeding, College of Forestry, Vellanikkara, 2002) Binu, N Kamalolbhavan; KAU; Ashokan, P KThe occurrence of sandal- Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi (AMF) associations in natural sandal growing forests and the response of sandal seedlings to inoculation with commonly available cultures of AMF, shade levels and nature of hosts were investigated in a pot culture experiment at the College of Forestry, Kerala Agricultural University, Vellanikkara. Two important sandal growing regions in the state, Marayoor (ldukki district) and Wadakancherry (Thrissur district) were selected for this study and a non-sandal growing area in Thrissur district was selected as a control for the soil studies . • The result showed that characters like height, number of leaves, leaf area and shoot weight of sandal seedlings increased due to the Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi inoculation and maximum response was observed for seedlings grown in soils inoculated with Glomus mosseae. The characters like collar girth, root weight did not show any significant difference for the mycorrhizal inoculation. It was further observed that the interactions between shade and mycorrhizae were the best under 50 per cent shade level especially for those seedlings inoculated with Glomus mosseae. During the initial seedling phase, high shade (75 per cent) is needed for sandal, but during the later stages of seedling growth, medium shade (50 per cent) resulted in best growth of seedlings. Growth of sandal seedlings with two host species, casuarina and redgram was on par. The relative water content and plant water potential were higher in seedlings inoculated with AMF. The N, P, K content of the shoot of sandal seedlings were maximum for seedlings inoculated with Glomus mosseae. Sandal seedlings collected from natural sandal growmg regions investigated for the presence of sandal-AMF association revealed that the roots of sandal seedlings from Wadakancherry forest showed 33 per cent of colonization, while the seedlings from Marayoor forest showed no colonization. Sandal seedlings grown for four months in the soils collected from these two regions showed superior growth when compared to those seedlings grown in soils from the agricultural lands of Thrissur, but no AMF colonization was observed in the roots of the sandal seedlings .ThesisItem Open Access Anatomical and physiological variations in certain selected species and provenances of acacia(Department of Tree Physiology and Breeding, College of Forestry, Vellanikkara, 2001) Santhosh Jacob; KAU; Vijayakumar, N KAn experiment was carried out during 1998-99 with the objective of evaluating the anatomical and physiological variations among provenances and species of Acacia and to correlate this with their growth characteristics. The experimental materials consisted of 11 provenances which included five provenances of Acacia mangium Willd., and two each of A. auriculiformis Cunn. ex., Benth., A. crassicarpa Cunn ex., Benth and A. aulacocarpa Cunn. ex., Benth. They were planted in a randomized block design in the farms of the College of Forestry, Vellanikkara in 1996. The ultimate objective of the study was to identify the most suitable species/provenances from among these for the ecoclirnatic conditions ofKerala. At four years of growth, provenances Balimo Aramia and Wipim to Oriomo from Papua New Guinea and Research Seed Orchard from Queensland were significantly superior to the rest. Among the four species, except A. aulacocarpa, the other three species namely, A. mangium, A. auriculiformis and A. crassicarpa showed superiority over height and collar girth. The most important component of total biomass undoubtedly, was the bole volume. So in this regard, the superiority of the species on height and collar girth indicates good volume production in future. A. auriculiformis exhibited superiority over branch production throughout the study, indicating its suitability for fire wood production. As far as leaf area is concerned the species exhibited significant . variation while, provenances did not. A. mangium and A. aulacocarpa showed maximum leaf area index, compared to A. auriculiformis and A. crassicarpa. Irrespective or the species, all the provenances showed- higher stomatal frequency on the lower leaf surface. Almost in all the provenances, transpiration late was increased from predawn to afternoon hours. Significant differences in the transpiration rate among the provenances and species was noticed between the predawn and afternoon hours only during the month of April. Transpiration rate and leaf water potential was negatively related in almost all the provenances. Provenances and species exhibited no significant difference with respect to leaf temperature. However, leaf temperature increased from predawn to afternoon in almost all the provenances. The provenance Balimo Aramia River of A. mangium as well as one each of A. auriculiformis and A. crassicarpa, namely, Orchard Melville and Bensbach WP registered the maximum heartwood percentage. The moisture content exhibited significant differences between the provenances. The specific gravity was maximum . for the provenance 7 KMSSE Mossman of A. auriculiformis while the minimum was shown by the provenance Kapal Oriomo of A. crassicarpa. Generally, provenances of A. mangium recorded higher specific gravity. The length of fiber was maximum for provenances orchard Melville - 1, NT and Kings Plain Lake, Queensland of A. auriculiformis while, minimum registered by the provenances of A. mangium. The maximum length and width for vessel, ray and. axial parenchyma was recorded by the provenances of A. mangium.ThesisItem Open Access Municipal garbage as a component of potting media for seedling of selected forest tree species(Department of tree physiology and breeding, College of Forestry, Vellanikkara, 2001) Adersh, M; KAU; Gopikumar, KThe present study was undertaken at College of Forestry, Kerala Agricultural University, Vellanikkara, Thrissur to evaluate the effect of potting media containing garbage on the growth and vigour of teak (Tectana grandis Linn. F.) and mangiurn (Acacia mangium Willd) seedlings. The study revealed that when garbage, especially fresh garbage, was used as a component of potting media, no significant effect was observed on survival rate of seedlings of teak, but a high rate of mortality was observed in the case of mangium. The potting media containing soil, sand and cow dung in equal proportions produced the best results with regard to shoot growth parameters like height and girth. However, the potting media containing soil, sand and one month decomposed garbage also produced similar results which was on par with the best treatment. Teak seedlings registered higher root biomass, root spread and root number when grown in the media containing garbage especially one month decomposed garbage. Unlike teak, in the case of mangium the treatment soil, sand and cow dung in equal proportions was proved to be the best with regard to root growth parameters. In both teak and mangium, chlorophyll content was not found to be significantly influenced by any media. Seedlings grown in the media containing soil, sand and cow dung in equal proportions recorded higher uptake and concentration of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium in the plant tissue when compared to all other treatments. This was true both ill the case of teak and mangrurn. In general, the treatments T3 (soil: sand: cow dung) and T6 (soil: sand: 1 month decomposed garbage) were proved to be better when compared to all other treatments. In many cases these two treatments were found to be on par.