Introductory Agroforestry

MANAGEMENT PRACTICES

Thinning
Felling made in immature stand for the purpose of improving the growth and form of the trees that remain without permanently breaking the canopy. It is mainly done:

• To improve the hygiene of the crop by removing dead, dying and diseased trees
• To ensure best physical conditions of growth
• To obtain a desired type of crop
• To afford protection from the spread of insects and diseases
• To improve the quality of wood
• Increase the net yield and financial return from the crop

Pruning

• Removal of live or dead branches or multiple leaders from standing trees for the improvement of the tree or its timber.
• It allows the grower to manipulate the growth and development of the trees left after thinning to improve the quality of the tree and to increase agriculture returns
• Natural; natural death and fall of branches of standing trees grown closely due to deficiency of light or decay etc
• Artificial: Removal of branches with sharp tools in a dense crop.
• Pruning lower branches close to the trunk of tree makes small knotty core which gives clear straight grain timber.
• Removal of too many branches will retard the growth
• If pruning is done too late, the central core of knotty wood become large thus reducing value of tree

Pollarding:

Pollarding consists of cutting a sapling or pole tree at some height above the ground level so that it produces new shoots from below the cut. Pollarding is done at a height of 2- 2.5 m above ground level; e.g. in Salix spp., Hardwickia binata, Grewia optiva, Morus alba, etc.

Lopping:

Removal of one year shoots or fresh growth from entire crown of the tree/plant in order to get sufficient fodder for livestock is known as lopping. Lopping is extensively done in Morus, Grewia, Bauhinia, etc.

Coppicing:

Cutting or heading back of main stem at 20-30 cm from the ground level. Strong coppicers: Acacia catechu, Albizia lebbek, Anogeissus latifolia, etc.; Good coppicers: Aesculus indica, Chloroxylon swietinia, Hardwickia binata, etc.; Bad coppicers: Adina cordifolia, Bambax ceiba, etc.; and Non coppicers: All conifers.

Bending:

Restricting the development of bole to allow more food material to new leaf shoots. Bending and coppicing are useful when it is desirable to produce large quantity of foliage close to ground level.

Training:

In agroforestry vertical spread of the tree is a desirable feature, therefore trees raised in agroforestry systems must be vertically trained to avoid shade and light competition to underground crop.