Effect of Run-off Harvesting and Conservation Techniques on Growth and Biomass Production of <I>Prosopis cineraria</I>

Abstract

To investigate the influence of different run-off harvesting and conservation techniques on soil moisture storage, growth and biomass production of Prosopis cineraria (khejri), a field experiment was carried out at Arid Forest Research Institute, Jodhpur with eight treatments such as; Control, Weed removal, Weed removal + soil working, Saucers of 1.0 m diameter, Saucers of 1.5 m diameter, Saucers of 1.5 m diameter covered with mulching around the trees, Bunding around each tree in checker board design and Inter row ridges of 20% slope. The saucer of 1.5 m diameter was found to be the best treatment which improved soil moisture storage considerably, caused eight times increase in total biomass of 26 month old khejri plantation (from 4.49 to 37.16 q ha^-1), doubled the root mass (4.33 to 9.66 q ha^-1) and caused 30 per cent increase in tree height. The technique of inter row slopes was also equally effective. Gain in tree growth due to other water harvesting treatments was relatively lower, though significant when compared with control. The weeding treatment improved the growth of khejri by two folds. Various treatments improved the water use efficiency of khejri by two to eight times as compared to 4.78 kg cm^-1 ha^-1 in control.