NeemLife Plantatinon: Establishment of a Neem Plantation

Abstract of the presentation of

Sashi Dayarathne

NeemLife Plantation is willing to establish a plantation in Horowpathana area which is located in Anuradhapura district by using Azadirachta indica as the species. Plantation extends to 25.5 ha and it is going to be carried out in three phases. The plantation is adding value to its premises by intercropping with chili as a cash crop. The vision of this plantation is to be the pioneers of supplying Neem raw material to the local and international Neem based manufacturers and their mission is to provide good quality Neem leaves, seeds, fruits, bark to the Neem product manufacturers and provide high quality, durable timber to the sawmills and furniture manufacturers.

When it comes to the A. indica it is one of the multipurpose trees available in the country which provide a path to the commercial industries like cosmetics, aurvedic and biopesticies. One of the best thing is that Neem does not require highly fertile soils, can be grown even in barren lands. It does not support, however, marshy or acid lands. The tree physiology requires temperature that varies between 8º and 40º C. The more hot and humid climate, the faster is the growth. And also for an economic exploration it must be planted on sites in which rainfall is in between 800 and 1,500 mm per year. In very favorable conditions, the Neem can reach 10 m height in eight years and 12 m in ten years, and produce fruit up to 60 kg per year by one tree. The Neem tree contains a thousand of chemical components. It is remarkable the occurrence of the so-called “Limonoids”, which are very rare. They appear in Neem in more than one hundred types.

Neem is going to be planted with 5x5 m spacing under plantation establishment. Therefore 400 Neem seedlings will be planted per ha and can be maintained by providing organic fertilizer and proper irrigation system. Thinning can be carried out two times in its plantation rotation. One is at the age of 10 when the mean top height is up to 10-15 m and other one is when the age is 25 where the mean top height is up to 20 m.The first flowering of trees occurs in the 4th year. The production of fruits starts with only 10 kg per tree (4.0 tons per ha), going up to 60 kg per tree (16.0 tons per ha) in the 10th year. Each tree produces 2 tons per year up to 7 tons per year of leaves, produce 60 m3 volume of timber per ha.

Plantation can be benefited by obtaining tradable carbon credits for removing CO2 from the atmosphere, according to the cycle of cutting and harvesting of the plantation to be considered within the concept of green carbon. The Neem plantation is indeed an interesting tool for promoting sustainable plantation in Sri Lanka while providing high return rates to investors and social development in rural areas. As it can support organic agriculture in large scale for removing agro toxic from the traditional agriculture.

An open-grown neem tree

Estimation of above ground biomass of Pinus caribaea

Estimation of above ground biomass of Pinus caribaea
by
Upul Subasinghe and Gayani Munasinghe

Forests in Sri Lanka contribute to the mitigation of global climate change through sequestrating a net amount of carbon dioxide and also maintaining carbon stocks as forest biomass. Therefore it was decided to study the biomass and sequestrated carbon by forest plantations in Sri Lanka. For this study, the possibility of predicting the above ground tree biomass and carbon of Pinus caribaea (Morelet) was investigated using regression analysis. A 27 year old P. caribaea plantation was selected from the low country wet zone of Sri Lanka and the data were collected using 0.05 ha sample plots.Without felling the trees, core samples were extracted from the stems and biomass and carbon amounts of those samples were used to estimate the biomass and carbon of respective trees through volume measurements. Canopy biomass and carbon were estimated using samples of primary, secondary and tertiary branches. Leaves and the tertiary branches were considered together for the selected species. The total baove ground tree biomass and carbon were estimated by adding the stem and canopy values together.

It was found that, for 27 old P. caribaea, the above ground tree biomass was 368.9 kg and carbon was 215.9 kg which is 58.5% from the biomass. The amont of carbon of the primary, secondary and tertiary and leaves was 35.0 kg. The total above ground tree carbon for the 27 year old P. caribaea plantation was 103.63 MT per ha.

Determination of Biomass and Carbon for Pinus caribaea in Sri Lanka

Determination of Biomass and Carbon for Pinus caribaea in Sri Lanka
by
Upul Subasinghe and Gayani Muinasinghe

Forests in Sri Lanka contribute to the mitigation of global climate change through sequestrating a net amount of CO2 and also maintaining C stocks as forest biomass. Therefore a research was carried out to study the biomass and C storage by the forest plantations in Sri Lanka. 27 year old Pinus caribaea plantation from Low Country Wet Zone of Sri Lanka was selected for this study and the required measurements were taken using 0.05 ha sample plots. Core samples were obtained to calculate the stem biomass and C withoug felling the trees. In order to determine the branch and leaf mass and C values, those were representatively sampled. C was analysed using Walkley-Black method.

It was found that the above ground tree mass of a 27 year old Pinus caribaea tree was 368.9 kg and the C amount was 215.9 (58.5%) respectively. The C% of the canopy was 64.5% from the dry mass. The C% of the primary, secondary and tertiary branches and leaves were 61.7%, 59.1%, 79.6% respectively.