Provenance Variation in Growth Characteristics of Acacia nilotica Ssp. Indica in Arid India

Twenty one provenances of Acacia nilotica ssp. Indica collected from 11°N to 31°N Latitude and 19 m to 650 m altitude in India were grown at Hisar, in arid India. There were significant variations (P<0.05) in stem height, branch, leaf and spine growth characters among the provenances at 6- and 23- month stage after transplantation. The ranking of superiority changed for most of the characters with advancement in age. In general, provenances from North-Western and Central India were found to be superior than those from South India. Variation in growth characters were random as they did not show any significant relation with latitude of origin seed source.