Journal of Tree Sciences

An expenditure on nursery is a major component of plantation estimates. In nursery management, irrigation plays the vital role in the success of any nursery. To optimize production of seedlings, irrigation must be applied in appropriate quantity and proper time; as per the requirement of the plant. Hence, an experiment was designed to study the influence of irrigation scheduling on growth of teak seedling in nursery stage at Navsari, Gujarat. Treatments consisted of four different irrigation level (Daily irrigation, Alternate day irrigation, Irrigation every 2 day, Irrigation every 3 day). The biometric observation on 30, 60 and 90 days after transplanting (DAT) revealed that the height of teak seedlings was affected due to varying levels of irrigation after planting of seedlings. The per cent increase in plant height over initial height was remarkably more in irrigation every alternate day which was followed by irrigation every day but it was infested more by insects and pest than irrigation every alternate day. The per cent increase in plant height was reduced in irrigation every 3 days. Similar trend was observed in collar diameter at 30, 60 and 90 DAT, the highest increase in percentage diameter over initial was recorded from seedlings subjected to irrigation every alternate day, while lowest increase in diameter was observed in irrigation every 3 day. The data on percentage increase in number of leaves at 30, 60 and 90 DAT indicated that irrigation every alternate day increases the percentage of leaves over initial.