TEAK PLANTATIONS IN NILAMBUR - Kerala Forest Research Institute

with increase in age can be seen. However, there are a couple of exceptions
too. For 1934 Aravellikavu teak plantation, the site quality is given as 1/11.
But the fourth silvicultural thinning at the age of 40 shows an yield equivalent
to that of site quality I. This may be due to the skipping of the previous
prescribed thinning. It is interesting to find that the final felling yield at the
age of 56 from the same plantation reveals a site quality of less than IV which
is classified as ‘failure’. Similarly for 1961 Sankarancode teak plantation, the
site quality according to the Working Plan is II. During the second
mechanical thinning, the yield obtained was equivalent to that of site quality
IV and during the first silvicultural thinning the yield was only that expected
for site quality IV. Here again, during the third silvicultural thinning the yield
was as much as that expected in site quality I. It is likely that the second
silvicultural thinning has not been carried out and hence the yield obtained
was the cumulative yield of two thinnings. Section 5 discusses this issue
further.
30