Clonal Mini Hedge Technology for Commercial and Rapid Production of Eucalyptus Clones: Advancement in Clonal Technology

Clonal propagation technology is used for mass production of true to type quality planting stock in which all the genetic superiority of the parent tree is retained. Initially we multiply the clonal plants from coppice shoots derived from the mother plant of 1.5–2 years old. The process is cumbersome and involves huge land area for clonal multiplication purpose. The development of micro-cutting technology for Eucalyptus allowed the concept of super intensive management of producing vegetative propagules to be achieved at commercial scale as for cuttings systems for large scale production of vegetative propagules ex vitro. Originally the system was based on mini hedges established through rooted mini cuttings, grown in small series of technical and Economical benefits as well as good root quality. Despite representing great advance over coppice cuttings in the open field mini cuttings in container faced some limitations. The open mini hedges (cuttings which were collected from Clonal Multiplication area or gene bank) were hostages of climate, and the problem related to adequate maintenance of nutritional status and leaf disease continued, especially during winter. The main problems were: reduced photosynthesis rate, reduced nutritional uptake and high level of nutrition loss by leaching during the periods of excessive rainfall, or even during irrigation. These limitations led to development of an indoor Mini Cutting system.

We have installed naturally ventilated poly house covered with UV rays stabilized 200 micron polythene provided with Fertigation system, temperature and humidity controllers. We have planted superior mother plants in raised bed filled with pure sterilized sand at 15 cm x 15 cm spacing. We are providing the required fertilizer dosage through Fertigation system to the plants. We are also providing constant humidity and temperature to the plants. Every month we are getting about 15–20 juvenile coppice shoots from a single mother plant. The adequate fertilizer dosage and nutritional status in the plant will help in increasing rooting percentage in Mist Chamber.