Clonal evaluation for early growth performance of Eucalyptus in South Gujarat, India

This study was carried out in College of Forestry, Navsari Agricultural University, Navsari, Gujarat. Total 20 clones having age of 5 ½ years were selected for early growth evaluation at field condition. There was a significant variation (P < 0.05) among 20 clones of Eucalyptus for growth parameters viz., tree height, DBH, mid-diameter, form quotient and volume of standing tree. Tree height varied from 18.5 to 23.6 m with DBH range of 11.47 to 16.07 cm. Mid-diameter indirectly helps to assess the tapering of tree and it ranged from 6.99 to 10.57 cm among 20 clones. The form quotient was used while calculation of volume of Eucalyptus clones. The form quotient varied between 0.58 and 0.71 with overall mean of 0.63 at studied site. Volume of standing tree ranged from 0.12 to 0.28 m3. The overall results showed that clones such as C12 (P2045), C17 (B2253), C4 (P413), C8 (P526), C7 (P498), C16 (SRO16) and C11 (P3020) performed superior for early growth attribute and stem form and these clones suggested for large scale plantation in South Gujarat region.