3
.
2
.
19
–
21
-year-old plantations The annual growth rates myear of bole,
crown and marketable heights as well as their respective volumes were significantly higher in D.
sissoo than E. tereticornis plantations. The annual growth rate of diameter at breast height was also
1.34 times greater for D. sissoo compared with E. tereticornis Table 2.
The better growth performance of D. sissoo plantations over E. tereticornis was further statis-
tically proven by relative growth rate. The values of bole, crown and marketable heights in terms of
relative growth rate were, respectively, 2.4, 2.28 and 1.88 times greater in D. sissoo than E. tereti-
cornis. Further, the relative growth rates of bole, crown and marketable volumes in D. sissoo plan-
tations were 1.85, 2.02 and 1.62 times greater than the respective values measured in E. tereticornis.
The D. sissoo plantations also showed 1.19 times greater relative growth rate in diameter at breast
height than E. tereticornis sites Table 2. The annual growth rate as well as the relative growth
rate of all the studied parameters in D. sissoo were much better for the older plantations compared
with the younger ones. Shiva 1993 reported bet- ter mean annual increment in case of D. sissoo
compared with E. tereticornis at 11 years of age. The cumulative growth rate revealed that after
10 – 12 years of growth, D. sissoo performs very well. The short-term approach for quick monetary
gain and seemingly fast growth has shifted the scenario in favour of E. tereticornis, however, in
the long term D. sissoo seems to be better for sustainable growth performance.
To estimate the overall tree performance, the data of annual growth as well as relative growth
rate for various parameters were subjected to discriminant analysis. The values of lambda
Table 3 strongly favoured D. sissoo plantations at 19 – 21 years of growth. On the other hand, at
6 – 8 years of growth, D. sissoo was more favoured in terms of relative growth rate, followed by
annual growth rate, compared with E. tereticornis plantations of similar age Table 3.
4. Economic viability of E. tereticornis and D. sissoo plantations
4
.
1
.
6
–
8
-year-old plantations At the 8th year, the mean timber productivity
of E. tereticornis plantations was 201.64 m
3
ha, worth Rs. 1 210 432ha. In contrast, the timber
productivity of the D. sissoo plantations was 82.76 m
3
ha, but the wood was worthless as it was immature Table 4. Nadagouda et al. 1997 esti-
mated the wood yield for stem and branches as 105 tha for E. tereticornis with a monetary return
of Rs. 72 450ha, compared with D. sissoo with 56.076 tha worth Rs. 42 244ha, at the end of the
5th year of growth. Chatha et al. 1991 reported that the wood productivity of E. tereticornis can
Table 3 Comparison of overall tree performance in terms of all the studied parameters, collectively, in the 6–8- and 19–21-year-old
mono-cultures of E. tereticornis and D. sissoo plantations after applying discriminant analysis
a
19–21-year-old plantations of E. 6–8-year-old plantations of E.
Parameter tereticornis versus D. sissoo
tereticornis versus D. sissoo Value of Wilks
Annual growth rates of all the 0.1430
0.0 parameters bole, crown,
lambda marketable heights and volumes
and diameter at breast height Relative growth rates of all the
0.0 Value of Wilks
0.0689 parameters bole, crown,
lambda marketable heights and volumes
and diameter at breast height
a
, , represent the decreasing order of significance difference at P = 0.05 level, following discriminant analysis the lower the value of Wilks lambda, the higher the significant difference, so 0.0 is highly significant.
Table 4 The productivity kgha and values Rs.ha of timber, fuel, oil, fodder and ash along with cost of inputs, in mono-cultures of 6–8-
and 19–21-year-old E. tereticornis and D. sissoo plantations Parameter
19–21-year-old plantations 6–8-year-old plantations
E. tereticornis D. sissoo
E. tereticornis D. sissoo
82.76 Timber productivity m
3
ha 792.80
201.64 538.01
Monetary value Rs.ha 1 210 432
– 4 758 980
11 528 440 Fuel-wood productivity Qha
3676 2642
6855 13 833
477 880 479 850
184 940 798 290
Monetary value Rs.ha 10 422
– Fodder productivity kgha
15 137 –
31 266 –
– 45 412
Monetary value Rs.ha 19.75
Eucalypt oil kgha –
53.38 –
– 2028.44
750 –
Monetary value Rs.ha 21 136
Ash content kgha 44 112
55 213 165 996
44 112 Monetary value Rs.ha
55 213 21 136
165 996 553 258
5 296 071 1 417 258
13 538 138 Total monetary value Rs. ha
67 371 83 848
71 192 Total expected cost of cultivation including post plantation
83 566 care Rs.ha
10 216 11 205
Total expected cost of logging, felling and transportation 13 210
15 729 Rs.ha
1 339 671 Net returns Rs.ha
458 205 5 211 669
13 438 843
yield Rs. 10 000ha per annum. Similarly, in other studies only the value of the wood components
was assessed, and over a too short period, as most indigenous trees do not mature until 10 – 12 years
of age. Thus when comparing the potential of exotic versus indigenous tree species, the total
gains
to maturity
should be
taken into
consideration. Moreover, mean productivity as well as the
value of non-timber products, i.e. fuel-wood and ash, was greater for D. sissoo than E. tereticornis
plantations. The net return from the commercially exploited product, eucalypt oil, was calculated as
Rs. 750ha. In contrast, the local use of D. sissoo leaves as fodder has a potential value of Rs.
31 266ha Table 4. The contribution of such non-timber forest products to the local economy
was estimated to be approximately a million ru- pees in Madumalai, India by Ganesan 1993.
The net returns for E. tereticornis were assessed to be Rs. 1 339 671ha, i.e. 2.92 times greater than
for D. sissoo 458 205 Rs.ha. A possible reason for the low value of D. sissoo plantations is its nil
timber value at this age, but once the tree reaches 8 – 10 years of age, its timber begins to fetch very
high prices. Secondly, the omission of non-timber products, which are used by the locals and also
provide various ecological services, appears re- sponsible for the low visible monetary returns in
D. sissoo compared with E. tereticornis, at the 8th year of growth.
4
.
2
.
19
–
21
-year-old plantations The monetary potential of E. tereticornis and
D. sissoo plantations showed an entirely opposite scenario at the 21st year of growth. Though tim-
ber productivity was estimated to be 1.47 times better in E. tereticornis plantations, the monetary
value was 2.42 times greater in D. sissoo planta- tions, because the market price for D. sissoo tim-
ber was over three times that of E. tereticornis. The fuel-wood productivity and its returns in D.
sissoo plantations were over twice those of E. tereticornis. The potential value of leaves as fod-
der was calculated as Rs. 45 412ha in D. sissoo plantations. Compared with this the eucalypt oil
obtained from E. tereticornis leaves had a value of Rs. 2028ha. The mean D. sissoo ash content
kgha and its potential value was over three times that of E. tereticornis Table 4.
The total potential gains, as a standing crop, for the five components were twice as great for
D. sissoo compared with E. tereticornis. The D. sissoo plantations also showed a net return 2.58
times greater than that of E. tereticornis.
However, within 6 – 8- and 19 – 21-year-old plantations of each species, an increase of net
returns of 3.89 times for E. tereticornis and 29.33 times for D. sissoo was seen with the age
of respective tree plantations. The old planta- tions
of E.
tereticornis as
compared with
younger ones seemed to perform reasonably well for the total visible gains. Campbell and Smith
1987, in a note to the World Bank, advised ‘as E. tereticornis has been grown in mono-culture
plantations with very short rotation cycles in In- dia and thus may cause loss of nutrients, farm-
ers should increase the length of rotations’. But the visible gains of E. tereticornis in the short
term attracted the farmers and land owners. When evaluating the total monetary output,
an argument is advanced that the income from the first crop of 8-year-old E. tereticornis, if sub-
jected to fixed deposit rates at a widely accepted 10 interest rate, can shift the situation in fa-
vour of E. tereticornis. In that case, after cutting the first crop, the coppice plant will grow again
to provide the second crop. Keeping this in mind and assuming the same input and output
charges which is not practically feasible, and there are usually less gains in a second crop, an
attempt was made to calculate the net returns over the 21-year life span. The 21 years, in fact,
represent the minimum maturation age of D. sissoo: within the same period, two and half
crops at a rotation of 8 years can be expected for E. tereticornis. Thereby, the net returns of
an 8-year-old E. tereticornis plantation first crop, for all the considered products, are sub-
jected to 10 compound interest rate for 13 years, and seem almost three times better than
that of D. sissoo plantations of a similar age Table 5. The second crop of E. tereticornis
supported a value of Rs. 2 157 553ha, after in- cluding interest for 5 years, and a third crop
was expected to provide Rs. 669 835ha for its 5 years’ growth. However, no such rotation of
crops occurs in the case of D. sissoo. It is sig- nificant to mention here that in this analysis, the
net returns for marketable as well as non-mar- ketable products have been considered because
assigning monetary value to any goodservice is a man-made parameter which depends upon its
availability Nautiyal, 1988: a monetary value for fodder and ash is thus incorporated into the
potential use of these ecological services.
As is clear from Table 5, the net returns over 21 years, even after including the interest for
each crop, in case of E. tereticornis, were calcu- lated as Rs. 7.4 million per hectare. This
amount was nearly 1.8 times less than the total direct gains obtained from D. sissoo plantations
at 21 years of age. On the other hand, the com- parison of direct returns arrived after cutting the
plantation in the 21st year of growth, showed 2.57 times better benefits in case of D. sissoo
than E. tereticornis plantations.
Table 5 The amount of total returns Rs.ha in E. tereticornis for the
21 years of life span, at rotation cycle of 8 years, and in D. sissoo, arrived indirectly after including interest for each cop-
pice crop and directly after cutting the crop at the 21st year of age
E. tereticornis D. sissoo
Amount Rs.ha at different time intervals
458 205 Returns from the first
1 339 671 crop Rs.ha
Amount after 13 years at 4 621 865
1 580 807 10 compound interest
rate Returns from the second
– 1 339 671
crop Rs.ha assumed the same as for first
crop After 5 years at 10
– 2 157 553
interest rate Returns for the third crop,
669 835 –
after 5 years of growth assumed to be half
than firstsecond crop 7 449 253
– Total returns in 21 years
5 211 669 Direct returns from a tree
13 438 843 plantation at 21st year
of growth Rs.ha
5. Conclusion
