Silviculture

• Crop maturity and harvesting The fruits require almost 11 months to mature. Twenty- to twenty-five-year-old trees are used for the extraction of bark and wood. The bark may be extracted selectively by strip technique and the tree may be allowed to stand. The tree has to be felled for extraction of wood.

• Chemical constituents Bark, heartwood, and sapwood contain santalin A and B, isopterocarpolone, pterrocarptriol, isipterocarpene, pterocarpdiolone, pterocarpol, acyl olealonic aldehyde, and acetyloleanolic acid.

• Yield and cost of cultivation Pod yield from 15-year-old trees is 30 tonnes per hectare. Heartwood yield per tree after felling is 250 kg. Thus, 15 000 tonnes per hectare of heartwood is expected after 15–20 years. The estimated cost of raising and maintaining the crop is Rs 55 000 for 5 years.

Source:

1. Agro-technique study carried out by P Division of Horticulture, University of Agricultural Sciences, G K V K Campus, Bangalore – 560 065. and P Dhanvanthari Vana, Department of Forestry, Government of Karnataka, Jnanabharathi Campus, Bangalore University, Bangalore.