Tree breeders of ITC Bhadrachalam employed tree breeding science with the seeds which were imported from CSIRO, Australia, and USAID, Hawaii, apart from indigenous source for introduction of germplasm for selection and improvement.
- Plus trees with superior desirable qualities were selected from the existing plantations in the country. More than 1,000 Candidate Plus Trees of Eucalyptus, 240 of Casuarina & 241 of Leucaena were selected for improvement.
- Selected plus trees were tested in 159 multi locational trials spread over 36 hectares area under different agro-climatic conditions in Andhra Pradesh.
- 107 promising saplings of Eucalyptus, 15 of Casuarina & 12 of subabul were short listed for mass multiplication and planting.
As a result of research, spectacular achievements were discernible
- The productivity of the high yielding, vegetatively propagated plantations improved from 20 to 58 tonnes per hectare per annum, which is 3 to 6 time higher compared to seed route plantations with 6 to 10 tonnes per hectares per annum.
- The survival rate of these plantation is greater than 95% compared to 40 to 60% from traditional seed route plantations.
- The harvesting period has been reduced from 7 years to 4 or 3 years.
Root trainer technology ensured low handling and transportation cost in comparison to traditional polythene bag nurseries.
Multi-locational field testing of the saplings was a critical important step for selection of fast growing and disease resistant trees. In Indian forestry, for the first time site specific (sites with black, red, alkaline soils) saplings were identified and given to growers for planting.
The Infrastructure for plant production consists of 36 ha of Testing Areas, 30 ha of Multiplication Areas and 24 ha of Demonstration Plots. Further, 3 hectares of Seed Orchard with high yielding saplings was also established. A new state of the art sapling production centre was established with a capacity of 15 million plants recently. The production capacity of 10 million for eucalyptus and 5 million for subabul plants was created by establishing 120 mist chambers in 12000 square meters area, Hardening area in 5000 square meters and Open Nursery in 100,000 square meters. Improved package of practices such as land development, wider spacing, ploughing, inter cropping, application of mychorrhiza, irrigation and fertilization, pest and disease management lead to higher survival, growth and bumper yields to the farmers.
Effective extension services and competent technical guidance is provided by ITC Managers to the growers from planting till harvest. Laboratory and research assistance is provided to the needy farmers. Regular meetings are conducted to address the problems faced by the farmers. Farmers are happy that they have an assured market with ITC which provides buy back of plantation wood at prevailing market prices.
For more information, you can call ITC's Farmer Helpline : 040-30015860
Greening waste lands is another facet of ITC’s strategy. Hilly, rocky, boulder ridden, waterlogged, river islands, refractive waste lands have been put to productive use by planting “ITC Bhadrachalam” saplings.
In a span of more than 2 decades, the skyline has changed with the spread of uniform plantations of Eucalyptus, Casuarina and Subabul plantations covering an area of more than 6,80,000 acres. The pioneering efforts have led to the adoption of “ITC Bhadrachalam” saplings by farmers, forest departments, forest development corporations and various paper mills across India. Such large scale acceptance and adoption of the high yielding, vegetatively propagated trees redefined productivity and profitability of pulp wood plantation species.