EFFECT OF LOCAL ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS ON THE GROWTH OF SEABUCKTHORN (Hippophae rhamnoides spp. mongolica) VARIETIES IN LAHAUL VALLEY, HIMACHAL PRADESH.
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Date
2019-07-22
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CSKHPKV, Palampur
Abstract
Seabuckthorn (Hippophae L.), locally known as Chharma, belonging to the family Elaeagnaceae, is a multipurpose plant naturally grows in high altitude cold deserts of Himachal Pradesh. Fruit and leaves of seabuckthorn are quite rich in vitamins, antioxidants, sterols and polyphenols etc., which have application in development of variety of health food, cosmetics and medicines. In order to meet increasing demand of seabuckthorn raw material in industries, there is a need to carry out massive cultivation of improved seabuckthorn. Local improved forms of seabuckthorn could not be domesticated by farmers due to presence of thorns, small fruit size, lower fruit harvesting yield and low fruit yield. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the adaptation and growth of five Russian seabuckthorn (H. rhamnoides spp. mongolica) varieties, which are globally introduced, after two years of growth at university Seabuckthorn Research Farm situated at Kukumseri (2750 m asl) and in the farmers’ fields in cluster of villages at higher altitude (3200-3300 m asl) in Lahaul, Lahaul-Spiti, a cold desert region of Himachal Pradesh. Seabuckthorn varieties were planted at a spacing of 3 m x 1.25 m spacing. There were total 11 treatments (5 Russian seabuckthorn varieties at two altitudes and a local selection of seabuckthorn “Drilbu” as a control). The Russian varieties showed higher survival rates at lower altitude at university farm (82-74%) than exotics growing higher altitude (54-20%), showing there was a significantly (P<0.05) lesser survival of seabuckthorn varieties at higher altitude under extreme climatic condition and unusual heavy snowfall during September month of 2018. NX1 and NX6 showed higher survival rates than other varieties. At lower altitude, LNX-6 showed the maximum height of 107 cm, followed by LNX-3 (103 cm). There was a significantly (P<0.05) decline in height of same varieties raised at higher altitude. Similar trends were observed in case of stem girth. At lower altitude, the maximum canopy spread in east direction was observed in LNX3 (34.1 cm), which was significantly (P<0.05) higher than other forms. The canopy spread declined significantly (P<0.05) in varieties from lower altitude (34.1-19.0 cm) to higher altitude (23.3-18.8 cm). Similar trends were observed in plant canopy spread in south direction. LNX-2 showed the maximum canopy spread of 24.2 cm, followed by LNX1 (22.2 cm) and others. The maximum leaf length was observed in LNX-1 (5.7 cm), followed by LNX-3 (5.5 cm) and others. The leaf length of exotics significantly (P<0.05) decreased at higher altitude. It was maximum of 5.2 cm in HNX3, significantly (P<0.05) higher than other varieties. The similar trends were observed in case of leaf width parameter. Growth parameters in seabuckthorn exotics were observed better at lower altitude (2750 m asl) than higher altitude (3200-3300 m asl). After 2 years of growth under field conditions, over all, seabuckthorn exotics NX1 and NX6 have shown promising results of high rates of survival and growth of the plants, an indication of performance of the varieties. There was no occurrence of thorns in any of the varieties. However, further studies are required to ascertain the best and most promising Russian seabuckthorn varieties, particularly under fruiting stage.
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