Clonal variation in selected wood anatomical properties and specific gravity of Eucalyptus tereticornis Sm. from two localities in Karnataka

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Year 2017 Vol 6 Issue 1
Document Type : ORIGINAL ARTICLE
¹SriLakshmi S., ²Rao R.V.
¹Department of Botany, Maharani Lakshmi Ammanni College for Women, Bangalore-12, Karnataka, India
²Scientist-G (Retd.), IWST, Bangalore-12, Karnataka, India
Abstract
A native of Australia and the East Indies, Eucalyptus was introduced to many parts of the world and today ranks as one of the most ubiquitous trees. Eucalyptus tereticornis Sm. known as Mysore gum in India is one of the most extensively cultivated Eucalypt species to meet the ever increasing demand of paper and pulp, and wood based industries. The supply to the wood based industries has always fallen short of their requirements. Aim: Due to shortage of raw materials from forests, industries have started their own plantations. Clonal technology has proved to increase the productivity. Like ITC Bhadrachalam clones in Andhra Pradesh, in Karnataka, Grasim industries, a unit of Harihar PolyFibers has raised the clonal material for increasing the productivity to meet the demand for paper and pulp industries.

The present study involves clonal variation in selected wood anatomical properties and specific gravity of two-four year old clones of Eucalyptus tereticornis Sm. raised in farmer’s field under irrigated (Mandya) and rainfed (Kolar) conditions.
Anatomical studies showed hypostomatic leaves with anomocytic stomata and no trichomes. Concentric vascular bundles were observed in the transverse sections of the leaf and petiole. The various sections of the stem anatomy revealed diffuse-in-aggregate vessels with scanty axial parenchyma in the transverse section, both uniseriate and biseriate rays in the transverse longitudinal section, and procumbent rays in the radial longitudinal section. Nutritional analysis showed presence of all the tested proximate and minerals. The leaves contained proximate: carbohydrates (25.57 ± 0.05), protein (18.02 ± 0.02), ash (29.36 ± 0.33), moisture (18.06 ± 0.03), crude fibre (9.83 ± 0.17) and fat (7.41 ± 0.11) and minerals: calcium (19.18 ± 0.00), potassium (14.01 ± 0.00) and sodium (7.97 ± 0.03), Zinc (0.70 ± 0.01), magnesium (1.91 ± 0.01), iron (4.93 ± 0.04) and manganese (0.91 ± 0.00). Conclusion: The anatomical results are quite useful in the delimitation of this species and nutritional results suggest the use of the leaves as a healthy food
Keywords
Eucalyptus tereticornis, specific gravity, Fiber morphology, Runkel ratio.
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