FORESTRY
Silviculture : Forest ecosystem, classification of world’s forest vegetation, productivity and
vegetation forms of India, forest composition , structure , stand dynamics , forest succession, forest
types, competition and tolerance, ecophysiology of tree growth, natural regeneration , artificial
regeneration, silvicultural systems, intermediate treatments. Forest site management, salvage
cutting, improvement felling, coppice forestry and enrichment planting. Weeds, locality factors,
selection of tree species, precision silviculture, silviculture of important trees. Forest Nursery, Seed
collection, processing and storage
Agroforestry: History in India, potential and scope, systems of the world and India, National
Agroforestry Policy. Agroforestry Classification, agroforestry in food security, wasteland
development, soil and water conservation, soil productivity enhancement and climate change
mitigation. Principle and criteria for selection of agroforestry tree species ,Tree –crop interactions,
crop planning and management, integrated farming system, fodder production, tropical home
gardens, taungyas, alley cropping, Integrated Watershed Management. Biomass production for
fuel wood, small timber & raw materials for cottage industries.
Forest Biometry: Measurement of tree parameters, modern tools and techniques, estimation of
volume, growth and yield, stand structure, volume, yield and stand tables, forest inventory,
sampling methods. Forest site – classification and evaluation, Use of GPS, remote sensing and
GIS, stand density, simulation techniques, prediction models.
Forest Management : Principles, scope and object, ecosystem management, development of
forest management in India, Concept of sustained yield, normal Forest, site quality evaluation and
importance, classical approaches to yield regulation, salient features and strategies, forest
valuation and appraisal, Carbon stock assessment.
Forest Products and Forest Industries: forest based industries, importance, chemistry of forest
products, forest based industries, cell wall constituents, logging, wood conversion, seasoning,
preservation, mechanical properties of wood, wood anatomy, composite wood, pulp, paper,
charcoal, destructive distillation, use of wood of important forest species, plant sources and uses
of gums, resins, katha, dyes, tannins, oils, fibres, raw drugs, bamboo and other non-wood products,
extraction, processing and utilisation, chemical composition of oleoresin from major pine species,
structural difference among different gums, chemical nature and uses of volatile oils, tannins,
katha, cutch, forest based dyes and pigments, use of wood of lesser known forest species, chemical
composition of oleoresin, structural difference among different gums, chemical nature and uses of
volatile oils, tannins, katha, cutch, forest based dyes and pigments.
Forest Ecology and Biodiversity Conservation: forest ecology, forest productivity, ecology of
forest landscapes, spatial heterogeneity, Grassland type, Types of grazing, Grassland management,
conservation of natural resources, forest genetic resources: timber and non timber species. Survey,
exploration and sampling strategies. Biological diversity and its significance to sustainable use,
assessment methodologies, biodiversity conservation programmes, biodiversity linked ecosystem
services, intellectual property rights, quarantine laws.
Forest Resource Management and Economics: economics in forest management, application of
micro and macro-economics, demand and supply, marketing, forest capital theory, trade in forest
products. Impact of economics, externalities and property rights, natural and environmental
resource accounting, ecosystem services assessment methods, application of operations research
tools in forest management.
Forest Protection: Important diseases and insect pests and their management, assessment of
losses, vertebrate pests, adverse weather, pollutants, forest fires, wildlife damage and weeds.
Biodegradation of wood, role of mycorrhiza, natural regulation of insect populations, developing
resistance trees.
Forest Policy And Laws And International Conventions: National Forest Policies, principles
of criminal law; Bhartiya Nyay Sanhita (BNS), Bhartiya Nagrik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) ,
Bhartiya Sakshya Adhiniyam (BSA). Forest laws, case studies & landmark judgments.
Agroforestry Policy, Wildlife act, Forest Conservation act, Biodiversity act.
Reproductive Biology and Tree Improvement: Reproductive Biology, artificial vegetative
propagation, special modes of reproduction, mating system dynamics, environmental effects on
Sex expression, mechanism of pollination. Fertilization, seed and fruit development, dispersal,
Gene flow mechanics, forest tree breeding, tree improvement and forest genetics. Variation in
trees, natural variation in tree improvement. Seed biology, seed orchards selective breeding
methods, plus tree selection, selection strategies, estimating genetic parameters and genetic gain.
Heterosis breeding, species and racial hybridization. Polyploidy, aneuploidy and haploidy \,
Biotechnology in tree improvement. mutation breeding, Economics of tree breeding. Clonal
Forestry
Forests And People: Forests and its importance, forest societies, interactions with people, social
and cultural factors, afforestation programmes , forest conflicts, wildlife and human conflicts,
important forest movements, gender dimension, tribal economy, pastoralists, management of
commons and Common Property Resources (CPRs) and open access resources, sustainable
livelihood, food security, eco-tourism, land use change. Forest rights, customary rights of people,
community participation, biodiversity and ethnobotany, global environmental change and land
use, resettlement, poverty alleviation and forests, role of NGOs and other CBOs community based
organizations.
Plantation Forestry : Role of plantation forestry , plantation forestry in India and abroad, , factors
determining scale and rate, land suitability , choice of species, production technologies for quality
planting stock, site preparation, planting, nutritional dynamics , irrigation, mechanization,
protection , after care, pruning and thinning, rotation in plantation, failure of plantations. Impact
of interaction and integration of plantation forestry, protective afforestation, afforestation of
inhospitable sites, ecological factors and long term productivity, sustainable yield, post harvest
practices. Wasteland plantation- Industrial Plantation- Corporate plantation- Contract plantation.
Case studies in plantations of Eucalyptus, Casuarina, Poplars, Acacias, Pine, Silver Oak, Gmelina,
Teak, Sandal, Bamboo, etc.
Environmental Conservation: Environmental degradation: pollution , environmental
conservation, environment impact assessment, India's international obligation, International
Conventions, global warming and Climate Change, impact of climate change and carbon
sequestration.
Statistics (Research Methodology): Statistics, definition, object and scope, frequency
distribution; mean, median, mode and standard deviation, introduction to correlation and
regression, experimental designs; basic principles, completely randomized, randomized block,
Latin square and split plot designs.