General Information :

• It is a middle to a large deciduous tree, 8 to 12 m in height
• Bark is smooth, greenish grey in young and grey in older trees pod 30-60 cm long with 40-100 seeds per pod.
• Flowers bright yellow in color.
• The tree is natural host for sandal tree.

Distribution :

• This is one of the most widely distributed trees in india.

Habitat : It common in south and north indian moist deciduous forests,southern and northern tropical dry deciduous forests and southern tropical thorn forests.

Soil : Poor shallow soil , granite and sandstone soils , laterite soils.

Soil pH : 5.5 and 7.5

Altitude :Upto 1220 m

Rainfall :750-1900 mm

Temperature : 35°C to 47.5°C

Terrain : Flat / hilly terrain

Tree Characteristics :

• Light demander, drought hardy and frost tender.

Habit : Deciduous Tree

Natural Regeneration :

• Regenerates naturally from seeds and coppice.

Artificial Regeneration :

• Propagated by Nursery raised seedling.

Seed collection and Storage :

• Ripe pods are collected off the trees in March-April
• The seeds are separated from the soft pulp and washed with cold water, before drying and stored in gunny bags.
• Seeds are viable for long time
• Germination percent is 22-60 and plant percent 12-47.

Seed Treatment :

• Hot water treatment for 5 minutes.

Nursery Technique :

• Seeds are sown in mother bed in March –April and watered regularly.
• Germination starts in 10 days.
• Mother bed should be kept weed free.
• Two leaf stage seedlings are transplanted in polybags and maintained in nursery.
• 6 month old seedlings are fit for planting in the main field.

Plantation technique :

Nursery Raised seedlings:  

• Pitting size 30 cm3 or 45 cm3
• Spacing adopted : 3 m x 3 m and 5 m x 5 m

 

Care & Disease Control :

• Weeding and soil working is more essential.

Irrigation :

• Create a trough around the tree to collect water
• Watered regularly till the roots are well established should be ensured.

Recommended Harvest :

 

• 15-20 years for coppice system.

 

Yield :

• 100-120 tons/ha of fuel wood.