Effecr of Shoot Reduction and Contour Trenching on Sal Coppice Growth in Laterite Areas of West Bengal

Abstract

In laterite tracts of West Bengal, foresters have customarily adopted digging contour trenches and reducing sal coppice shoots as a practice for improvement of moisture regime and total environmental amelioration, and also for ensuring more biomass production in terms of quantity and quality. But so far, no analytical study based on statistically designed experiments has been carried out to study the elfect of such operations; - there remains a gap in knowledge in this respect. In this paper, analysis of statistically designed experiments in sample areas of the laterite tracts of West Bengal has been attempted to find out the effect of contour trenching and reduction of shoots for sal coppice. The whole experiment had been laid out in split-plot design and analysis of the data reveals interesting conclusions.