42 December 2013  Volume 26  Issue 2 Indian Journal of Hill Farming Response of Dalbergia sissoo Roxb. Clones to Integrated Nutrient Management Practices I. JAISANKAR*, R. REVATHI, K.T PARTHIBAN, M.R. BACKIYAVATHY, R. JUDE SUDHAGAR, K. SIVAKUMAR Received 13.9.2013, Revised 24.9.2013, Accepted 24.9.2013. Forest College and Research Institute, Mettupalayam, Tamilnadu  641301, India * Corresponding authors Email: ijaisankar@yahoo.com ABSTRACT A field experiment was carried out in 2012-13 to study the location specific nutrient requirement based on soil test value during the first year growth and development of Dalbergia sissoo raised from clonal source. The study area was located at TNPL, Karur (11”03·44.33" N latitude and 77”59·19.95" E longitude) Tamil Nadu, India. The experiment was conducted in randomized block design with four replications. There were six different treatment combinations of soil test value based organic and inorganic fertilizers. Among the treatments, 125% of STV 138:98:65 NPK kg ha -1 + VAM (100g plant -1 ) + Azospirillum (50g plant -1 ) + Phosphobacteria (50g plant -1 ) + FYM (500g plant -1 ) recorded significantly maximum growth parameters, quality parameters and nutrient uptake followed by 100 % of STV- 110:78:52 NPK kg ha -1 + VAM (100g plant -1 ) + Azospirillum (50g plant -1 ) + Phosphobacteria (50g plant -1 ) + FYM (500g plant -1 ). The results indicate that soil test value based integrated application of organics along with inorganic fertilizers could increase the growth as well as dry matter production in clonal plants of Dalbergia sissoo during the initial growth stages. Key words: Dalbergia sissoo, clones, nutrient management, growth parameters, dry matter production. INTRODUCTION Increasing demand coupled with low productivity of tree plantations is one of the major concerns faced by wood based industries. One of the main reasons for low productivity of industrial plantations is non-availability of genetically improved planting stock and proper nutrient management practices. Improved planting material coupled with location specific silvicultural technologies will improve the productivity of the plantations (Lal 2000). Low soil fertility and moisture stress conditions of the field are important limitations causing transplanted seedlings difficult to establish. These limitations can be narrowed by use of inorganic fertilizers combined with organic fertilizers which are capable in increasing soil fertility and decreasing soil moisture loss. A large area is undertaken for transplantations each year but most plants either do not show satisfactory growth due to low soil fertility status or die during drought due to stress conditions. Dalbergia sissoo Roxb. is one of the tropical timber tree species with multiple uses such as fuel wood, fodder, pulp, shade, shelter and N-fixing ability (Sharma et al. 2007). It is one of the few indigenous leguminous tree species of South Asia, growing naturally from Himalayan foot hills to the plains of Afghanistan, Malaysia, India and Pakistan. It is widely used in agroforestry and afforestation programmes in the Indian subcontinent (Chander et al. 1998, Huda et al. 2007). Nursery and field response of D. sissoo were also studied by Dabas and Kaushik (1998). In dry deciduous forest it has been reported to produce 15 tonnes ha -1 year -1 of woody biomass (Rajvanshi et al. 1985) and a total biomass of 160 tonnes ha -1 year -1 (Sharma et al. 1988). Indian Journal of Hill Farming 26(2):42-48 Available online at www.kiran.nic.in Original aticle