BLUE PINE IN* THE HIMALAYAS 



The differences in pollination and female receptivity between the 

 ooist lower-level provenance of the outer monsoon zone and the dry or arid 

 high-level provenance of the interior non-monsoon zone is too great to 

 allow cross -pollination between them. The reproductive barrier between 

 the two is further strengthened by the presence of high Himalayan ranges 

 which isolate them and exchange of pollen or seed between the two regions 

 is not possible except through the few bottlenecked gorges. Thus a 

 strongly functional reproductive barrier exists between the moist monsoon 

 zone and dry-arid non-monsoon zone provenances and there is a weakly func- 

 tional reproductive barrier between low and high altitude provenances in 

 both the outer monsoon and the inner non-monsoon zones. Genotypical 

 differences, therefore, can be expected to be present amongst the four 

 provenances of Northwest Himalayas. 



The above fact is supported by the results of preliminary experiments 

 carried out on blue pine seed and seedling development in 1931, 1932, and 

 1953 at the Forest Research Station, Kulu. It is shown that seeds collected 

 from higher levels are not suited for tree plantation at lower levels and 

 vice versa. Similarly, seeds collected in the dry zones proved to be 

 unsuitable for plantation in moist zone and vice versa (Suri and Seth, 



.An assessment of genotypical differences between the different blue 

 pine provenances of Himalayas can be made only by replicated provenance 

 tests and by detailed studies on the differences in rate of growth, disease 

 resistance, morphology, periods of pollination and female receptivity, 

 breeding system, embryo -endosperm and seed development, and in seed 

 variation both from the field and from provenance plots. 



LITERATURE CITED 



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A synecological study. Ind. Forest Rec. New Series, Botany 1: 103-221. 

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in Pinaceae. Studia Forestalia Suecica 45: 1-9". 

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