Evaluation of fuelwood quality of indigenous and exotic tree species of India's semiarid region

Abstract

The fuelwood potential of indigenous (Acacia nilotica, Azadirachta indica, Casuarina equisetifolia, Dalbergia sissoo, Prosopis cineraria andZizyphus mauritiana) and exotics (Acacia auriculiformis, A. tortilis, Eucalyptus camaldulensis andE. tereticornis) trees were studied. Calorific value variations for components, such as, stump, main stem, treetop, branches, foliage and bark, were determined. Tree components differed highly significantly (P<0.01) among groups (indigenous and exotics) and within species. The calorific means ranged from 18.7 to 20.8 MJ/kg for indigenous tree species and 17.3 to 19.3 MJ/kg for exotics. Besides calorific values, other fuelwood characteristics, such as, density, ash, biomass/ash ratio, moisture and nitrogen content were also studied. It was observed that indigenous tree species are better suited as fuelwood species as they contain high density wood, low ash content and low N percentage. The fuelwood value index (FVI) was found to be high of indigenous tree species and was maximum forCasuarina equisetifolia (2815). The most promising tree species were in the order ofC. equisetifolia, A. nilotica andZ. mauritiana.