Selection and evaluation of superior planting materials of Ailanthus triphysa (Dennst.) in Thrissur district, Kerala

An experiment was carried out to test the seedling characters and early field growth performance of candidate plus trees of Ailanthus triphysa from Thrissur district, Kerala. This species is one of the most widely cultivated agroforestry tree species in Kerala. Its major uses are for making match splints, furniture manufacturing, and aromatic resin called Halmaddi, used for making incense sticks. Twelve candidate plus trees were selected based on the comparison tree method from three distinct agro ecological zones of Thrissur District, Kerala. The germination and biometric characters of the progenies showed significant difference at nursery and at field level. Highest germination percentage of 83.50 was recorded by CPT-11 and lowest of 67 percentage by CPT-1. The CPT-11 showed significantly higher height of 88.67 cm at nursery and attained maximum height of 99 cm and girth of 21.04 mm from the field performance (180 DAP). Other promising progenies at the field level were CPT-10 and CPT-09.