Nursery Performance of Male Clones of Poplar (Populus deltoides Bartr.) under Temperate Conditions of Kashmir Valley

Fifteen (15) male clones of Populus deltoides (Twelve clones procured from WIMCO and three local clones) were evaluated in nursery to study their growth performance. The investigations revealed that significant interclonal variation exists for all the selected growth characters. The plant height varied from 179 to 284 cm, collar diameter 17.13 to 27.51 mm, number of branches 3 to 14 and number of leaves 59 to 272 plant-1. The leaf area plant-1 also varied between a minimum of 50 to a maximum of 118 cm2 and the internodal length between 3.28 to 5.77 cm. Significant interclonal variation also exhibited in fresh and dry total biomass of seedlings. Based on the morphological growth, the ranking index for these clones was developed and the clones viz., L-34 (TC), L-34 and 65/27 performed best in terms of ranking index with values 133, 126 and 123 respectively. These clones can be used for mass multiplication and for gradual replacement of female cultivars in the Kashmir Valley.