Forest Research Institute

About: Forest Research Institute is a facility organization based out in Dehra Dūn, India. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Forest management. The organization has 5320 authors who have published 7625 publications receiving 185876 citations.

Marginal Agricultural Land Low-Input Systems for Biomass Production

Abstract: This study deals with approaches for a social-ecological friendly European bioeconomy based on biomass from industrial crops cultivated on marginal agricultural land. The selected crops to be investigated are: Biomass sorghum, camelina, cardoon, castor, crambe, Ethiopian mustard, giant reed, hemp, lupin, miscanthus, pennycress, poplar, reed canary grass, safflower, Siberian elm, switchgrass, tall wheatgrass, wild sugarcane, and willow. The research question focused on the overall crop growth suitability under low-input management. The study assessed: (i) How the growth suitability of industrial crops can be defined under the given natural constraints of European marginal agricultural lands; and (ii) which agricultural practices are required for marginal agricultural land low-input systems (MALLIS). For the growth-suitability analysis, available thresholds and growth requirements of the selected industrial crops were defined. The marginal agricultural land was categorized according to the agro-ecological zone (AEZ) concept in combination with the marginality constraints, so-called ‘marginal agro-ecological zones’ (M-AEZ). It was found that both large marginal agricultural areas and numerous agricultural practices are available for industrial crop cultivation on European marginal agricultural lands. These results help to further describe the suitability of industrial crops for the development of social-ecologically friendly MALLIS in Europe.

Forage value of Mediterranean deciduous woody fodder species and its implication to management of silvo-pastoral systems for goats

Abstract: Forage value of 10 deciduous woody fodder species during six stages of maturity as well as their acceptance by goats in July and August were studied in Macedonia, northern Greece. The fodder species studies wereAmorpha fruticosa L.,Carpinus orientalis Mill.,Colutea arborescens L.,Corylus avellana L.,Fraxinus ornus L.,Ostrya carpinifolia Scop.,Pyrus amygdaliformis Vill.,Quercus pubescens Willd.,Quercus sessiliflora Salich, andRobinia pseudoacacia L. with two accessions, common and spineless. All these species are integral components of the mediterranean silvo-pastoral systems. Monthly forage samples were collected throughout their growing period (May to November), which coincides with the long dry summer when herbaceous plants are dormant, and analyzed for crude protein content, neutral detergent fiber (NDF), lignin and in vitro organic matter digestibility (IVOMD). Comparing the leguminous species (Robinia pseudoacacia, Amorpha fruticosa, Colutea arborescens) with the remaining species, the leguminous one had on average a higher (P≤0.05) content of crude protein (21.1%, 21.0% and 17.1% vs. 10.5–13.3%, respectively) and higher (P≤0.05) IVOMD values (58.4%, 56.0% and 60.0% vs. 47.3–52.8, respectively). Moreover, the leguminous species were among species with lower NDF (42.3%, 45.0% and 35.2% vs. 36.0–48.9%, respectively) and lignin content (7.1%, 8.3% and 9.1% vs. 7.6–10.9%). All species showed a significant increase in crude protein when new leaves appeared (May). Most of the fodder species had digestibilities in the higher range (>55% IVOMD) and low NDF content (<53.5%) during the growing season (first five stages). Lignin contents ranged from 5.9% (A. fruticosa, May) to 16.0% (O. carpinifolia, Nov.).Robinia pseudoacacia had the highest relative acceptance index whileAmorpha fruticosa, Colutea arborescens andCorylus avellana the lowest. It is concluded that deciduous woody fodder species may play a significant role as sources of nutrients in the mediterranean silvo-pastoral systems during the summer period of seasonal nutritional shortage.

The COST model for calculation of forest operations costs

Abstract: Since the late nineteenth century when high-cost equipment was introduced into forestry there has been a need to calculate the cost of this equipment in more detail with respect to, for example, cost of ownership, cost per hour of production, and cost per production unit. Machine cost calculations have been made using various standard economic methods, where costs have been subdivided into capital costs and operational costs. Because of differences between methods and between national regulations, mainly regarding tax rules and subsidies, international comparisons of machine costs are difficult. To address this, one of the goals of the European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST) Action FP0902 was to establish a simple format for transparent cost calculations for machines in the forest biomass procurement chain. A working group constructed a Microsoft Excel–based spreadsheet model which is easy to understand and use. Input parameters are easy to obtain or possible to estimate by provided rules of...