Provenance Trial of Dalbergia sissoo Roxb

Around 55 provenances / seed sources of Dalbergia sissoo Roxb. were collected from vast expanses of India and Nepal as part of National Provenance Trial by ICFRE in 1994 - 1995, and 40 seed sources were planted in Basantar Bela, Samba district of Jammu region of J&K in July 1995 in a randomized complete block design. The seed sources have been evaluated during January 2010 for survival and growth parameters. It was observed that the parameters of diameter, height and volume over bark varied significantly with regard to seed sources, but not with regard to replications. The wide variations observed in the trial cannot be explained unambiguously from climatic differences between the locations of these seed sources alone, as evidenced by correlation studies. It was further established that seeds from Mirzapur, Nepal and Pratapgarh manifested distinct advantages concerning the survival, height, diameter and volumes of the stems, thus demonstrating their utility in bolstering mass plantation in the north western Indian region and elsewhere. Further studies appear obligatory to apprehend this indication.