Comparative ecological-economic analysis of growth performance of exotic Eucalyptus tereticornis and indigenous Dalbergia sissoo in mono-culture plantations

This paper describes the comparative growth performance of and monetary ret urns for Eucalyptus tereticornis and Dalbergia sissoo plantations in northe rn India. The growth is analysed in terms of annual and relative growth rat es of bole, crown and marketable heights aic gains are considered for five components, i.e. timber, fuel-wood, fodder, oil and ash. The old plantation s of D. sivolumes, and diameter at breast height. The measurements were tak en at 6-8 and 19-21 years of age. The economry gains estimated are Rs. 13.4 million per hectare in the case of D. sissoo, but only Rs. 7.4 million per hectare for E. tereticornis, even after including the value of all rotatio nal crops possissoo are found to be more sustainable in terms of growth per formance and net monetary return. The total monetand ble within the 21-year life span. This integrated analysis challenges the long claimed forest pol icy that fast growing trees perform better than indigenous trees. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.