Edapho-climatic influence on the growth of farm-grown casuarina under different agroclimatic zones of Tamil Nadu, India

Casuarina plantations are increasingly established in Tamil Nadu because of quick economic returns from its multi-utility uses. However, casuarina growth depends on site conditions and relationships have been established between various climatic and edaphic parameters and growth attributes. The present study evaluated the influence of climatic factors, such as rainfall, temperature and relative humidity, as well as soil physicochemical properties on teak growth in two agroclimatic zones of Tamil Nadu, namely North eastern zone (NEZ) and the Western zone (WZ) in two years old casuarina trees respectively. From each zone, climatic factors were analyzed and soil samples were collected at 0-15 cm and 15-30 cm in the soil profile for physicochemical analysis. The results show that the growth biometrics of block plantations of casuarina trees were positively correlated with climatic and edaphic factors. Maximum and minimum temperature, pH, electrical conductivity, organic carbon and available nitrogen showed significant positive correlations with the tree volume index. This studys’ key finding is that the casuarinas’ growth varies among agroclimatic zones, which can be monitored by means of edapho-climatic factors that influence casuarina plantations.