Growth and Performance of some Provenances of Pinus caribaea Var Hondurensis in Jammu-tawi in Comparison to the Indigenous Pinus roxburghii

A field trial was established at the field station of Regional Research Laboratory, Jammu-Tawi to study the comparative growth and performance of four Central American provenances of Pinus caribaea var. hondurensis (Lanquin, Poptun, La Brea and Las Sa Banas) and one indigenous provenance of Pinus roxburghii from Jammu region (Tikri). Results of the study, spread over a period of eight years revealed that in the first four to five years Lanquin was ahead of all other provenances in tree height and collar diameter growth but thereafter La Brea started gaining better growth in tree height and collar diameter. tiHowever, in respect of breast height diameter growth, Lanquin continued to maintain its lead from the very beginning to the end. Lanquin and La Brea were closely followed by poptum in all growth parameters but Las Sa Banas lagged much behind all these provenances. The indigenous P. roxburghii provenances from Tikri was however, slowest to grow but had highest survival percentage, best stem form and branching habit and lowest percentage of defecti"e and irregularly formed trees without any sign of foxtail forms in it.