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 ISBN 938551675-2

9 789385 516757

INR: 2600.00
Forest Seed Science and
Management

Editors
Gopal Shukla
Nazir A. Pala
Sumit Chakravarty

Department of Forestry
Uttar Banga Krishi Viswavidyalaya
Pundibari, Cooch Behar, West Bengal, India

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UTTAR BANGA KRISHI VISWAVIDYALAYA
P.O. PUNDIBARI, DIST. COOCH BEHAR, WEST BENGAL- 736165

Phone: 03582-270141/270013(0)
Prof. (Dr.) Debasis Mazumdar Fax: 03582-270249
M.Sc. (Ag), Ph.D Mob: 9434748016
Vice-Chancellor E-mail: vcubkvv@gmail.com

Date: 23.05.2016

Foreword
Seed, the only reproductive material in most of the forest tree species for natural
regeneration and for future afforestation programmes in the country is losing
diversity. Due to population explosion and other developmental activities several
forest tree species are getting threatened and hence ultimately affecting the
seed source and its availability. Continuing interest in making our country one
of the least emitting GHG emission by increasing the forest cover brings the
importance of forest seed to the forefront. Hence obtaining quality planting
material and in heavy amounts from different forest tree species needs better
understanding of seed genetics, collection, storage, processing, marketing and
its, legislation. Seed industries are now also gaining the market entries and are
important sources of employment in the forest sector.
This volume “Forest Seed Science and Management” thus brings together a
rest of research and review articles that explore the present ongoing research
on the concerned subject, future prospectus and its management. Attempt has
been made to cover the research and management objectives with current
legislative and policy provisions. In a significant way, these compilations of
articles aim at bridging the gap between policy and practice, field and laboratory,
marketing, extension and legislation provisions.
I have gone through the table of contents and portions of the text of articles to
sample its coverage. I am glad to see the coverage and contents from different
parts of the country with exhaustive information. This edited volume will be
helpful to forestry students, researchers, academicians and practicing foresters
and other interest associates. I would strongly recommend this volume to all
practitioners of this subject and anyone interested in delving with the agent of
plant reproduction.

Vice-chancellor
Preface

Seed is the primary input for productive forestry and for any afforestation
program. In propagation and conservation of a species, seeds play a vital role.
In recent years owing to greater emphasis on community forestry, wasteland
development and to support the National, Mission for a Green India as a part of
the “National Action Plan on Climate Change” the requirement of seed has
multiplied manifold. Large quantities of seed are needed every year to raise the
nursery stock for propagating the desired plant species. A plentiful supply of
quality seed i.e., high in viability and vigour, is therefore one of the prerequisites
to make such activities successful. Presently in India, requirement of forest
seeds for various programmes has not been properly documented though some
estimation has been arrived at quantifying the seed demand of various forestry
species based on utilization of seed in the past. Seeds are the most suitable
form to conserve and also a means to distribute the plant germplasm. The
quality of seed depends on choice of seed collection stand, seed crop abundance,
time of collection, handling and storage. The duration of the viability of the
seeds in nature vary widely among species due to their varied maturation time
and storage physiology. In view of the increasing importance of seed quality in
forestry and the numerous challenges in handling, testing and storage of forest
seed, present book is very important for the benefit of forest seed industry. In
the significant advances that India made in forest science in the last four decades,
the role of the seed sector has been substantial. The present volume ‘Forest
Seed Science and Management’ deals with various aspects of seeds and is
comprised of 14 chapters highlighting aspects on historical perspective, recent
research trends, insect, pest and disease management, physiological,
biotechnological and molecular aspects, collection to processing and storage,
testing, industrial approach, seed policy & legislation, IPRs and rural extension.

May, 2016 Gopal Shukla

Nazir A Pala
Sumit Chakravarty
Contents

Foreword ..................................................................................................... v
Preface ........................................................................................................... vii
List of Contributors ........................................................................................ xi

1. Forest Seed Science- Necessity for the Present Day Forestry .. 1

Gopal Shukla, Nazir A Pala, Vineeta and Sumit Chakravarty
2. Forest Seed Technology and its Overview .................................. 13
M.M. Rather, M.A. Dar, Kalpana Kukreja, Reyaz
A. Bhat and Monika Panwar
3. Seed Orchards and Seed Stand ...................................................... 29
Afaq Majid Wani, S. B. Lal, Sheshan Shrivastava and
Gunjan Kumari
4. Physiology of Forest Seeds ............................................................ 41
Lakshmi Hijam and Tulsi Saran Ghimiray
5. Seed Storage and Testing of Forest Seeds .................................. 57
Bobbymoore Konsam
6. Sources, Testing and Management of Forest Seed Pathogens . 79
Nataliya Krishnambika Ambica
7. Insect Pests of Forest Seeds and Their Management
in Natural and Storage Environment ............................................. 85
Suprakash Pal, Supriya Biswas, Gopal Shukla,
Nazir A. Pala and Sumit Chakravarty
8. Forest Seed, Trade and its Certification .................................... 103
Dhiman Mukherjee
x Forest Seed Science and Management

9. Trends in Forest Tree Seed Germination Research ................ 129

Sanjeev K. Chauhan, H.V. Srinidhi, R. Sharma,
Jagdish Chander and H.S. Saralch
10. Exploring Biotechnology for Quality Forest Planting
Material ........................................................................................... 155
Hossain Ali Mondal and Puspendu Dutta
11. Molecular Markers in Forest Seeds .......................................... 169
Sandip Debnath
12. Forest Reproductive Material Legislation ................................ 177
Manmohan J R Dobriyal
13. Intellectual Property Rights with Particular Orientation
to Forestry ...................................................................................... 209
Bidhan Roy, Dinesh Tulsiram Surje and Swarnajit Debbarma
14. Entrepreneurship Development Through Forest Seed
Marketing ....................................................................................... 241
Litan Das, P.K. Pal and Pampi Paul
List of Contributors

Afaq Majid Wani H.V. Srinidhi

School of Forestry & Environment 6th Cross Arunachala Layout
Sam Higginbottom Institute of Agriculture Paporeddy Palya, Nagarbhari 2 Stage
Technology & Sciences, Allahabad Bangalore – 560072
Uttar Pradesh – 211 007 Karnataka

Bidhan Roy H.S. Saralch

Department of Seed Science and Technology
Uttar Banga Krishi Viswavidyalaya
Pundibari Cooch Behar – 736 165
West Bengal, India
Bobbymoore Konsam
Department of Forestry and Natural Resources
HNB Garhwal, University
Srinagar Garhwal Uttarakhand
Department of Forestry and Natural
Resources, Punjab Agricultural University
Ludhiana – 141 004, Punjab
Hossain Ali Mondal
Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding
Uttar Banga Krishi Viswavidyalaya
Pundibari, Cooch Behar – 736 165
West Bengal

Dhiman Mukherjee Jagdish Chander

Department of Agronomy Research Circle, Haryana Forest
Bidhan Chandra KrishiViswavidyalaya Department, Panchkula – 134 102
Mohanpur, Distt Nadia Haryana
West Bengal
Kalpana Kukreja
Dinesh Tulsiram Surje Doon (PG) College of Agriculture Science &
Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding Technology
Uttar Banga Krishi Viswavidyalaya Camp Road, Selaqui
Pundibari, Cooch Behar – 736 165 Dehradun – 248001
West Bengal Uttarakhand

Gopal Shukla Litan Das

Department of Forestry Department of Agricultural Extension
Uttar Banga Krishi Viswavidyalaya Uttar Banga Krishi Viswavidyalaya
Cooch Behar, Pundibari Pundibari Cooch Behar – 736 165
West Bengal – 736165 West Bengal

Gunjan Kumari Lakshmi Hijam

School of Forestry & Environment Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding
Sam Higginbottom Institute of Agriculture Uttar Banga Krishi Viswavidyalaya
Technology & Sciences, Allahabad Cooch Behar, Pundibari – 736165
Uttar Pradesh – 211 007 West Bengal
xii Forest Seed Science and Management
Manmoahan J R Dobriyal
Department of Siliviculture and Agroforestry
Navsari Agriculture University
Navsari, Gujarat
M. M. Rather
Doon (PG) College of Agriculture Science &
Technology, Camp Road, Selaqui
Dehra Dun – 248 001, Uttarakhand
M. A. Dar
Doon (PG) College of Agriculture Science &
Technology, Camp Road, Selaqui
Dehradun – 248 001
Uttarakhand
Monika Panwar
Doon (PG) College of Agriculture Science &
Technology, Camp Road, Selaqui
Dehradun – 248001, Uttarakhand
Nazir A Pala
Department of Forestry
Uttar Banga Krishi Viswavidyalaya
Cooch Behar, Pundibari
West Bengal – 736 165
Natalya Krishnambika Ambica
Dolphin (PG) Institute of Biomedical and
Natural Sciences Manduwala
Dehradun, Uttarakhand
P. K. Pal
Department of Agricultural Extension
Uttar Banga Krishi Viswavidyalaya
Pundibari, Cooch Behar – 736 165
West Bengal
Pampi Paul
Department of Agricultural Extension
National Dairy Research Institute
Karnal, Haryana – 132001
Puspendu Dutta
Department of Seed Science and Technology
Uttar Banga Krishi Viswavidyalaya
Pundibari, Cooch Behar
West Bengal – 736 165
R. Sharma
Department of Forestry and Natural
Resources, Punjab Agricultural University
Ludhiana – 141 004, Punjab
Reyaz A. Bhat
College of Agriculture Science & Technology
Camp Road, Selaqui
Dehradun – 248001, Uttarakhand
S.B. Lal
School of Forestry & Environment
Sam Higginbottom Institute of Agriculture
Technology & Sciences
Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh – 211 007
Sheshan Shrivastava
School of Forestry & Environment
Sam Higginbottom Institute of Agriculture
Technology & Sciences, Allahabad
Uttar Pradesh – 211 007
Sumit Chakravarty
Department of Forestry
Uttar Banga Krishi Viswavidyalaya
Cooch Behar, Pundibari
West Bengal – 736 165
Suprakash Pal
Regional Research Station Terai Zone
Uttar Banga KrishiViswavidyalaya
Pundibari, Cooch Behar
West Bengal
Supriyo Biswas
Assistant Director of Agriculture
Baduria North 24 Parganas
West Bengal
Sanjeev K. Chauhan
Department of Forestry and Natural
Resources
Punjab Agricultural University
Ludhiana – 141 004, Punjab
Swarnajit Debbarma
Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding
Uttar Banga Krishi Viswavidyalaya
Pundibari, Cooch Behar – 736 165, West
Bengal, India
 List of Contributors xiii

Sandip Debnath Vineeta

Department of Crop Improvement Department of Forestry
Horticulture and Agricultural Botany Uttar Banga Krishi Viswavidyalaya
CIHAB, Visva-Bharati University Cooch Behar, Pundibari
Sriniketan, West Bengal – 731 236 West Bengal – 736 165

Tulsi Saran Ghimiray

RRS (Hill Zone), UBKV
Kalimpong, West Bengal
 Forest Seed Science and Management, pp 1-11
© 2016, Editors, Shukla et al.
New India Publishing Agency, New Delhi, India

1
Forest Seed Science- Necessity for the
Present Day Forestry
Gopal Shukla, Nazir A Pala, Vineeta and Sumit Chakravarty

Abstract
Knowledge of seed biology is crucial for proper management of seed sources
as well as the handling of seeds. In broadest sense seed technology includes
the development of superior crop plant varieties, their evaluation and release,
seed production, seed processing, seed storage, seed testing, seed certification,
seed quality control, seed marketing and distribution and research on various
aspects. Vegetative propagation has also become popular for the propagation
of some tree species, but seed propagation remains the principal mode of
propagation in both the temperate and the tropical region. Forest plantations
are a powerful tool in the continuing efforts of foresters to increase productivity
per unit area apart from mitigating the climate change and global warming
issues. Hence to improve the existing stock in terms of yield, quality, disease
resistant and desired traits, seed technology can play a major role in providing
quality genetic material.
Keywords: Seed science, Propagation, Genetic material

Introduction
Seed technology has been defined as the method through which the genetic and
physical characteristics of seeds could be improved. It involves such activities
as variety development, evaluation and release, seed production, processing,
storage and certification. Thus seed technology is essentially an inter-disciplinary
science which encompasses broad range of subjects. In its broadest sense,
seed technology includes the development of superior crop plant varieties, their
evaluation and release, seed production, seed processing, seed storage, seed
testing, seed certification, seed quality control, seed marketing and distribution
2 Forest Seed Science and Management

and research on seed physiology, seed production and seed handling based
upon modern botanical and agricultural sciences. The science of seed biology
encompasses development and physiology of seeds until they finally germinate
or fail to do so. Knowledge of seed biology is crucial for proper management of
seed sources as well as the handling of seeds themselves. Problems of seed
procurement and technology often limit the use of particular species. Nurseries
may tend to raise species whose seeds are readily available and which are easy
to raise from seeds, since the additional work imposed by more problematic
species does not pay. It may be difficult to increase seedling prices sufficiently
to cover additional nursery costs; seedlings often tend to be sold at a fairly
uniform price no matter how much effort was involved in raising them (Pedersen,
1994).
Farmers generally plant trees on farms or community lands to grow products
that satisfy household needs and market demands. Non-government
organizations (NGOs) often support farmers’ tree-planting efforts. Tree seed,
a key input that determines the success of any tree planting activity, is often in
short supply. As a result, farmers and NGOs use whatever seed is available,
regardless of its quality. In most countries good quality tree seed is not readily
available for a number of reasons (Mulawarman et al., 2003) mentioned below.
• A lack of awareness concerning the importance of seed quality.
• Limited quantities of good quality seed are available and government
agencies, researchers and forest industry control access to this seed.
• Limited areas of forests and plantations that produce good quality seed.
• The genetic quality of forests is often degraded because the best quality
trees have been harvested, leaving only poorer quality trees available for
seed collection.
• Collectors, dealers and other workers in the tree seed sector have limited
training and inadequate facilities to produce, handle and store seed properly.
• A lack of cooperation between governmental agencies and the community
level to improve the availability and utilization of quality seed.
• No labeling or certification systems exist to provide adequate information
(to the farmer- and NGO-level) concerning the origin and quality of the
tree seed that is available.
• No premium is paid for better quality tree seed.
 Forest Seed Science-Necessity for the Present Day Forestry 3

Definitions Related to Seed

Seed: Reproductive material of flowering plants.
Germplasm: Seed or vegetative material used for the purpose of plant
propagation; most commonly germplasm refers to seed.
Seedling: Plants propagated from any form of germplasm.
Seed source: Individual trees or stands, natural or planted, from which seed is
collected. This manual addresses four types of seed sources: seed trees, seed
stands, seed production areas and seed orchards.
Genotype: Genetic constituents of an individual tree which, in interaction with
the environment, largely controls tree performance and is inheritable by its
progeny. Generally, trees with good genotype produce good progeny.
Phenotype: The observed characteristics of a tree, which result from the
interaction of the genotype and environment.
Plus trees (Selected trees): Superior phenotypic trees from which seed is
collected.
Seed stands: Seed stands are groups of trees, in either natural forests or
plantations, identified as having superior characteristics - such as straight stem
form or rapid growth. Seed stands are managed for seed production, but only
seldom benefit from selective thinning or other management intended to improve
the quality of seed produced from the stand.
Seed trees: Seed trees are individual trees from which seed is collected. They
should have superior characteristics - such as straight stem form or rapid growth.
They may be in either natural forests or plantations.
Pure seed: The portion of a seed lot (or sample) that is composed of seed of
the specified species, including both viable and non-viable seed. All debris and
seeds of other species are excluded.

Criteria for Seed Trees Selection

Seed tree selection criteria differ for various tree types (Mulawarman et al.,
2003).

Timber tree criteria

• Above average tree height and stem diameter
• Straight stem form
• Long, clear merchantable bole
4 Forest Seed Science and Management

• Uniform crown, without heavy branches or double-stem

• Free of pests and diseases
• Good quality timber
• Mature tree that produces ample quantities of seed

Fodder trees and living fences

• Rapid growth
• High leaf production
• High nutritive values of leaf
• Good coppicing ability
• Tree stature and shape that fits the intended planting system and site
• Free of pests and diseases
• Drought resistance
• Mature tree that produces ample quantities of seed

Fruit trees
• Good growth
• Abundant, sweet, and big fruits
• Uniform crown with low branches
• Free of pests and diseases
• Mature tree that produces ample quantities of seed

Seed vs Vegetative Propagation in Tree Species

Reproduction and multiplication of plant species is done mainly by asexually or
vegetative propagation and sexually by the formation of seeds. Vegetative
regeneration, for example via root suckers, is important for short-range
regeneration of some species (e.g. Populus spp. and Casuarina spp.), and
some species like Poplars and Salix have traditionally been propagated
vegetatively by rooting of cuttings. During the last decades vegetative
propagation techniques have gained ground for mass propagation of improved
genetic material, e.g. clonal plantations of hybrid pines in Australia (Walker and
Haines, 1996). Vegetative propagation has also become increasingly popular
for the propagation of trees with difficult seeds such as some of the dipterocarps
(Kantarli, 1993). Yet, seed propagation remains the principal mode of propagation
 Forest Seed Science-Necessity for the Present Day Forestry 5

in silviculture in the temperate as well as in the tropical region. Schmidt (2000)

suggests seeds are unique in natural regeneration and propagation because of
the following.
• Seeds constitute unique genetic compositions, resulting from mixing parental
genetic material (by crossing over between chromosomes during meiosis
in ovules and pollen and the random combination of gametes during
fertilization). The result is genetic variation of the offspring, which in turn
enhances ecological adaptability.
• Seeds are usually produced in large numbers and are readily available
each year or at longer intervals.
• Seeds are (usually) small concentrated packages of plants-to-be, containing
nutrients for the establishment of the plant and, excepting recalcitrant
seeds, usually much more resistant to damage and environmental stress
than vegetative propagules.
• Many seeds can be stored for long periods under cold dry conditions.

Need of Forestry Seed Science in India

The productivity of forests in India is low as compared to world average and
forest cover. Hence to improve the existing stock in terms of yield, quality,
disease resistant and desired traits, seed technology can play a major role in
providing quality genetic material. Large scale plantation and afforestation of
waste lands with economically viable for different ecosystems to achieve the
target of forest cover as per the National Forest Policy demands mass production
of quality planting material including seeds with desired traits. To overcome the
problem of hunger with the growing population and to solve environmental
problems involving micro-organisms for restoration and conservation of plant
biodiversity through biotechnological and molecular marks would be needed.
Forest seed science can be instrumental in producing seed gene banks, tissue
culture gene banks, pollen and spore banks. Introduction of quality seeds is
needed for improvement of range productivity and fodder quality for live stock
to sustain rural household economy

Importance of Forestry Tree Seed: Global Perspective

Good forestry projects start with good seeds. Lacking good genetic material to
start with, investments in other treatments will have little effect. In forestry as
well as in agriculture, time and effort invested in procuring better quality seeds
will pay back in higher rates of survival, higher yields, and better quality of
wood and other products (Friday, 2000). For species that are grown around the
6 Forest Seed Science and Management

world and have been the subject of much tree improvement work, such as teak
(Tectona grandis) and many species of Eucalyptus, it is almost always better
to send away for improved seeds. Growers in many regions have been selecting
varieties that grow faster are more resistant to disease, and have better wood
qualities. For example, trials in Hawaii comparing sources of Eucalyptus grandis
found twice the diameter growth rate between the worst and the best seed lots
(Skolmen, 1986).
Afforestation is no longer a matter for forest departments alone. The increase
in population has led to change character of forest planting in accordance with
the broader spectrum of demand. But with shrinking forest areas and reduced
land holdings community forestry or social forestry with components of
agroforestry, shelterbelt plantation, village woodlots etc. now makes up a major
share of the total planting activities. Hence to full fill these needs and demands
at household, village and community level, it is important to have good quality of
seeds for land rehabilitation. The problems of seed destruction is increasing
due to our increasing resilience on seed sources for the production of seedlings
or for trees of known genetic characteristics in reforestation and reclamation
programmes. In southern United States alone, trees are cultivated as seed sources
over relatively large areas of about 10,000 acres (Goyer and Nachod, 1976).
Back in 1980s fuel wood study committee has estimated the fuelwood requirement
as 133 million tons now available from the forest land (Anon. 1982). In addition,
round wood timber requirement has been estimated as 65 million m3 by 2000
AD for agricultural implements, cattle sheds, hutments, houses and buildings as
for wood based industries as against the production of 12 million m3 during
1980-81. This alarming situation has been taken note of not only by the
professional foresters but also by politicians and administrators (Sen-Sarma,
1986). Against this background, tree planting has undergone a total
metamorphosis in so far as forestry species are concerned (Sen-Sarma, 1986).
Seeing the demand back in last century and status of growing population of
forest depend people at present and to fulfill their demands hybrid seed production
is must. The National Forest Commission, 2006 recommends that in order to
meet the growing needs of the nation stress should be laid on establishing high
yielding plantations and agroforestry based on improved planting stock. Tree
improvement has the potential to increase productivity immensely through use
of genetically improved and certified forest reproductive material.
A 1998 assessment placed 10% of the world’s trees to be threatened with
extinction, so conservation efforts must be increased also. The Millennium Seed
Bank project at the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, in the United Kingdom, aims
at conserving 10% of the world’s flowering plants (primarily from tropical dry
lands) by 2010 and it is expected that a significant proportion of the world’s
 Forest Seed Science-Necessity for the Present Day Forestry 7

trees will be included, The need for better supplies of tree seeds is expected to
greatly increase, thus creating the demand for increased research efforts. In
the temperate zones, especially in Europe and North America, the need will be
driven by a greater acceptance of “green” values that reject the use of clonal
plantations, especially those involving genetic manipulations. The dependence
on natural regeneration that this trend will create may not produce the desired
results (especially with non-timber species) so artificial regeneration will have
to take up the slack. Because it will take time for this change to occur in
temperate regions, tropical tree seed supply becomes the more pressing problem.

Past Research and Future Perspectives

Forest plantations are a powerful tool in the continuing efforts of foresters to
increase productivity per unit area apart from mitigating the climate change
and global warming issues. Seed production of fast growing tree species is
necessity of the hour for increasing the land under plantation to curb the growing
pollution and green house gases. Plantations also offer the means of using on a
large scale the genetically improved material developed by tree breeders.
Although there is no case for the indiscriminate replacement of all natural forest
by plantations, their judicious use, by providing an alternative source of forest
products, can itself reduce pressure on the remaining natural forest and so help
to conserve it as a habitat and a source of genetic diversity.
Establishing forest plantations to meet the ever-increasing demand for tree
products has been a long standing tradition in the tropics (Evans, 1999). Although
good progress has been made in breeding trees for altered xylem-fibre lengths
and lignin content, which is valuable to the paper and pulp industries (Heilman,
1999; Turnbull, 1999), much less progress has been made in improving timber
quality, precisely because the wood formation is so poorly understood (Lev-
Yadun and Sederoff, 2000; Plomion et al., 2001). Only limited studies are
available on the role of biotechnology in plantation forests (Fenning and
Gershanzon, 2002), economic benefits resulting from the introduction of forest
biotechnology (Sedjo, 2001) and ecological issues associated with the deployment
of genetically modified forest tree species (Van Frankenhuyzen and Beardmore,
2004). The use of sound seed from stands of high inherent quality is widely
recognized as the best means of ensuring fast-grown and healthy plantations
capable of yielding high quality wood (Aldhous, 1972).
In fact, 81% of all biotechnology activities in forestry over the past ten years
were not related to genetic modification (Wheeler, 2004). Approximately 34%
of all biotechnology activities reported in forestry over the past ten years related
to propagation (Chaix and Monteuuis, 2004; Wheeler, 2004). The completion of
a whole-genome sequence for Populus trichocarpa (Tuskan et al., 2006) has
8 Forest Seed Science and Management

laid the foundation for reaching this goal for a model species. Genetic modification
technology is still new to forestry. Relatively numerous introduced traits of
transgenic trees have been under regulatory examination in the United States
of America (McLean and Charest, 2000), and a commercial plantation of
genetically-modified poplar trees has been reported in China (Su et al., 2003).
Although genetic containment systems have long been called for by ecologists
and other scientists to reduce a number of undesired effects of genetically
engineered crops (NRC, 2004; Snow et al., 2005), there has been strong pressure
on companies and governments against use of any forms of ‘Terminator-like’
containment technology (ETC, 2006). But in the forestry area, there has also
been activism against containment technology because of a lack of confidence
that it will be fully effective, concerns about loss of biodiversity associated with
modification or loss of floral tissues (Cummins and Ho, 2005) and legal
uncertainties and liability risks from the dispersal of patented genes.
With growing industrialization, major environmental problems (global warming,
flooding, and biological diversity) are often foremost in the public eye. But
there is a little concern for the billion people who depend on trees for livestock
fodder, fruits, local construction, and cooking and heating fuel (Bonner, 1992).
A simple, yet effective, solution for these problems is to plant more trees. To
plant more trees, reliable sources of high-quality seeds are needed. Some might
say that we have an abundance of tree seeds, but are these seeds from the
proper species for the tropics (Bonner, 1992)? Seed quality testing and source
of seeds to be planted needs to be known and hence intervention of scientific
community having good expertise on the subject is needed through institutional
based research (Table 1). The major seed problems in the tropics are the lack
of definitive information about the phenology of flowering and maturation of
fruits and seeds.
Particularly in moist tropical forests, extensive phonological observation has
been recorded, but yet predictive models for flowering are lacking (Bawa et
al., 1990). A common barrier to the use of indigenous species is the unavailability
of high quality seeds arising from the lack of seed technology information
(Bonner, 1992). Low distribution frequencies of species in tropical forests are
common (Gentry, 1988). Predators are the major problems in the tropics (Howe,
1990). The problem demands on site observations to be recorded for longer
duration to document the various phenological changes occurring in the tropical
forests. On site observations can lead to report timely happening of the events
like seed ripening, harvesting and collection time. About one million hectares
(2.47 million acres) in the tropics are planted in tree seedlings each year, but
only a small portion of these seedlings are indigenous species.
 Forest Seed Science-Necessity for the Present Day Forestry 9

Table 1: Some forestry research centers with expertise in tree seed technology and/or physiology

Region Institution and location

Africa Kenya Forest Research Institute (Nairobi, Kenya) Central National de Semences
Forestieres (Ouagadougou, Barkina Faso)
Asia ASEAN- Canada Forest Tree Seed Centre (Mauk-lek, Saraburi, Thailand) Kerala
Agricultural University (Trichur, India) Australian Tree Seed Centre, CSIRO
Division of Forestry & Forest Products (Canberra, ACT, Australia)
Latin America Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazonia (Manaus, Brazil) Corporacion
Nacional de Investigacion y Fomento Forestal (CONIF) (Bogota, Colombia)
Centro de Investigaciones en Bosque Tropicales, Universidad Autonoma de
Campeche (Campeche, Maxico) Centro de Ecotogia, Universidad Nacional
Autonoma de Maxico (Los Tuxtlas Mexico)
Europe Royal Botanic Garden (Kew, Sussex, UK)
United States Forestry Sciences Laboratory, USDA Forest Service & Mississippi State
University (Starkville, Mississippi).

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