Author(s): A. K. CHAKRABORTY, D. TAMANG AND K. SENGUPTA

Abstract: Sal, (Shorea robusta Gaertn. F.,) belongs to the family Dipterocarpaceae which mainly occurs in deciduous dry and in evergreen moist forest. Southern part of West Bengal once upon a time was recorded as harbor of luxuriant Sal forests. At present in South West Bengal Sal is the predominant species. But the existing forests are mostly in a degraded state of coppice. Regeneration is absent in greater part of the areas. The Sal forests in South - West Bengal have been facing problems in respect of their regeneration and their perpetuity has become a matter of worry to all concerned. Under these circumstances an attempt has been made to regenerate Sal forest by way of adopting the technique of vegetative propagation with the assistance of different higher concentrations of auxin and kinetin. Initially this experiment was carried out at Indpure Range location of Bankura(s) division. This attempt was successful and roots were initiated on shoot cutting. Latter on the replica of the same was conducted at the nursery of Simlapal Range under Bankura(s) division. Afterwards vegetative propagated Sal seedling were transplanted in the field in the year of 2007 and 2008 for studying the variation in height in different years. The experimental area is located in between 22º59’38.84" to 22º59’34.42" North latitude and 86º55’20.15" to 87º13’06.10" East longitude. The average elevation of the area is 57 meter (187 feet’s AMSL) having a mean annual temperature 23.34ºc and mean annual rainfall 1422.55 mm. The present study was related to the selection of vegetative propagated seedlings in progeny trial areas in accordance to their performance so that we could get better plants with faster growth and is likely to have better adaptability in degraded Sal forest areas.

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