ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Nutrient Use Efficiency in Eucalyptus clones

The Institute of Forest Genetics and Tree Breeding (IFGTB), Coimbatore, India functioning under the Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education (ICFRE), Dehara Dun, India, has a long term systematic tree improvement programme in Eucalyptus spp. aimed to enhancing productivity and screening of clones for site specific. In the process, twenty four clones of Eucalyptus spp. were studied for the nutrient use efficiency (NUE) from the established clonal trials. It also provides valuable information for establishing plantations at different geographic locations. Considerable variations were observed when the selected 24 clones of Eucalyptus spp. were subjected to NUE studies. The clones of C-188, C-10, C-14, C-19, C-123 and C-186 are falls in one cluster and the NUE for production of biomass and the commercial wood, the Eucalyptus clones of are registered lower consumption of available nutrients for production of biomass and commercial wood compared to ruling clones and the seed origin seedlings. Further, the clonal variations in NUE are discussed in detail in this article and clones suitable for large scale planting with higher productivity and NUE.