A week-long training on silviculture and forestry for the personnel of Ecological Battalion of Territorial Army began at the Forest Research Institute (FRI) here on Monday.
During the inaugural session of the training course, FRI director Savita said that the ecological battalions of Territorial Army are doing commendable work on afforestation of degraded, disturbed and difficult sites. Training at FRI will provide scientific inputs on silvicultural aspects like seed collection, quality evaluation, nursery raising and plantation establishment and management.
The institute’s silviculture and forest management division head Arti Chaudhary welcomed the participants and said that during this course apart from lectures, visits to nursery, laboratories and experimental sites will also be conducted.
Earlier, the course coordinator Manisha Thapliyal gave a detailed report of the course and said that more emphasis is being laid on practical exposure in seed handling, nursery establishment and plantation activities.
The training module includes the techniques of seed dormancy pretreatments, seed storage, clonal propagation of bamboo, nursery techniques of important tree species of Assam, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir.
The training lectures also include soil fertility management in nursery and plantations, afforestation of difficult sites and management of fungal and insect-pest diseases in nursery and plantations, propagation of medicinal plants, visit to common facility centre for bamboo processing and treatment.
The training course being organised jointly by FRI and 127 Infantry Battalion, Ecological (TA) Garhwal Rifles, is being attended by about 37 personnel from various regions including Assam, Delhi, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra.