Abstract
Sandalwood (Santalum album L.) is a hemiparasite unable to absorb the required nutrients directly from the soil. Therefore, it needs a suitable host for successful cultivation. The effect of hosts on the growth and development of sandalwood was studied in an eleven-year-old plantation in the Northern dry zone of Karnataka. The sandalwood trees grown with Prosopis (Prosopis juliflora L.) exhibited better growth in terms of tree height (6.58 m), canopy spread (4.64 m), canopy volume (48.60 m3), stem girth (40.70 cm), main stem volume (36.79 dm3) and its annual increment (16.39%). They were also summer hardy and recorded higher chlorophyll, free proline, and soluble sugar in leaves. The summer leafiness of sandalwood was associated with the free proline content in its leaf (r = 0.927), which was in turn correlated with the free proline content in leaves of their respective hosts (r = 0.899). The sandalwood trees with Prosopis also exhibited signs of early heartwood development, thus making Prosopis a suitable host for the commercial cultivation of sandalwood in hot semi-arid conditions.
Published Version
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