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Master’s degree in Agroforestry
Or
Master’s degree in Forestry or Agronomy
Or
Horticulture or Botany with specialization in Agroforestry.
Particulars Details
1. Mode of ICAR ASRB NET Online computer based
2. Nature of the exam Objective type
3. Maximum Marks 150
4. Number of questions 150
5. Duration of exam 02 hours
6. Marking Scheme One mark will be awarded for every correct answer
7. Negative Marking 0.33 mark will be deducted for every wrong answer
Unit 1
National Forest Policy 1894, 1952 and 1988; Indian Forest Act, 1927; Forest Conservation Act,
1980 and Wildlife Protection Act, 1972; Forests-extent, basis for classification and distribution in India; Geographical distribution and salient features of major world forest types; Phytogeographical regions and vegetation of India; Role of forests in national economy - productive, protective and ameliorative, tribal and rural livelihoods; Forest types of India: distribution and types; Succession, climax and retrogression; Concepts of biomass, productivity, energy flow and nutrient cycling in forest, ecosystem; Migration and dispersal mechanism.
Unit 2
Concept and definition of agroforestry, social forestry, community forestry and farm forestry; Benefits and constraints of agroforestry; Historical development of agroforestry and overview of global agroforestry systems. Classification of agroforestry systems: structural, functional, socio-economic and ecological; Diagnosis and design of agroforestry system; Land capability classification and land use; Criteria of an ideal agroforestry design, productivity, sustainability and adoptability; Multipurpose tree species and their characteristics suitable for agroforestry.
Unit 3
Plant management practices in agroforestry; Tree-crop interactions: ecological and economic; Concept of complementarity, supplementarity and competition; Productivity, nutrient cycling and light, water and nutrient competition in agroforestry; Concept of allelopathy and its impact on agroforestry; Energy plantations - choice of species and management; Lopping of top-feed species such as frequency and intensity of lopping; Organic farming; Financial analysis and economic evaluation of agroforestry systems: cost benefit analysis and land equivalent ratio; Agroforestry practices and systems in different agro - ecological zones of India.
Unit 4
Extent and causes of land denudation; Effects of deforestation on soil erosion, land degradation, environment and rural economy; Wastelands: their extent, characteristics and reclamation; Watershed management and its role in social, economic and ecological development; Biomass production for fuel wood, small timber, raw material for plant-based cottage industries, non-wood forest products such as gums, resins & tannins, medicinal plants, essential oils, edible fruits, spices, bamboo and canes; Wood quality and wood preservation; Plywood and pulp industries.
Unit 5
Forest mensuration - definition, object and scope; Measurement of diameter, girth, height, stem form, bark thickness, crown width and crown length; Measurement methods and their principles. Measurement and computation of volume of logs and felled/standing trees; Construction and application of volume tables; Biomass measurement; Growth and increment; Measurement of crops; Forest inventory: kinds of enumeration, sampling methods, sample plots and photo interpretation; Geographic information systems and remote sensing - concept and scope.
Unit 6
Definition, object and scope of silviculture; Site factors - c imatic, edaphic, physiographic, biotic and their influence on forest vegetation; Forest regeneration: natural and artificial; Silvicultural systems - high forest and coppice systems; Silviculture of important tree species - Populus, Eucalyptus, Dalbergia, Acacia, Tectona, Shorea, Prosopis, Casurina, Pinus, Gmelina, Azadirachta, Diospyros, Pterocarpus, Anogeissus, Santalum, Quercus and Albizia.
Unit 7
Seed collection, processing, storage, viability and pre-treatment; Seed dormancy and methods for breaking dormancy; Seed testing and germination tests; Seed certification and ISTA Rules; Forest nursery - need, selection and preparation of site, layout and design of nursery beds; Types of containers; Root trainers; Growing media and sowing methods; Management of nursery-shading, watering, manuring, fertilizer application, weed control, insect pest and diseases control; Planting techniques: site selection, evaluation and protection; Soil working techniques for various edaphic and climatic conditions; Planting patterns; Plant spacing, manure and fertilizer application, irrigation/moisture conservation techniques; Choice of species. Afforestation on difficult sites: saline-alkaline soils, coastal sands, lateritic soils, wetlands, ravines and sand dunes, dry and rocky areas, cold desert; Tending operations - weeding, cleaning, climber cutting, thinning - mechanical, ordinary, crown and selection thinning, improvement felling, pruning and girdling; Forest fires: causes, types, impacts and control measures; Major forest pests and weeds.
Unit 8
Forest management: definition and scope; Concept of sustained yield and normal forest; Rotation; Estimation of growing stock, density and site quality; Management of even aged and uneven aged forest; Regulation of yield in regular and irregular forests by area, volume, increment and number of trees; Working plan; Joint forest management; Conservation and management of natural resources ncluding wildlife; Forest evaluation; Internal rate of return, present net worth and cost benefit analysis.
Unit 9
Tree improvement: nature and extent of variations in natural population; Natural selection; Concept of seed source/ provenance; Selection of superior trees; Seed production areas, exotic trees, land races; Collection, evaluation and maintenance of germplasm; Provenance testing. Genetic gains; Tree breeding: general principles, mode of pollination and floral structure; Basics of forest genetics - inheritance, Hardyweinburg Law, genetic drift; Aims and methods of tree breeding. Seed orchard: types, establishment, planning and management, progeny test and designs; Clonal forestry - merits and demerits; Techniques of vegetative propagation, tissue culture, mist chamber; Role of growth substances in vegetative propagation.
Unit 10
Forestry in bio-economic productivity of different agro-eco-systems and environmental management; Global overview and classification of agroforestry systems; Tree-crop interaction in agroforestiy; Biomass production for fuel’ wood, small timber, raw material for plants-based cottage industries, non wood forest products such as gums, resins, tannins, medicinal plants, essential oils, edible fruits, bamboos and canes; Principle and criteria of plant selection in agroforestry; Resource use-efficiency in agro fores try.
Unit 11
Measurement of trees and stand - diameter, girth, height, form and crown characteristics; Measurement methods and their principles; Volume/biomass estimation, volume tables; Measurement of rangeland productivity; Forest enumeration: sampling methods, sample plots, surveys and photo interpretation; Concept and application of GIS and remote sensing; Introduction to internal rate of return, present net worth, cost benefit analysis and land equivalent ratio; Agro forestry and environmental conservation; Role of green revolution in forest conservation in India.
Unit 12
Climate change: greenhouse effect, sources and sinks of green house gases, major greenhouses gases; Global climate change - its history and future predictions; Impact of climate change on agriculture, forestry, water resources, sea level; Livestock, fishery and coastal ecosystems; International conventions on climate change; Global warming: effect of enhanced CO2 on productivity; Ozone layer depletion; Disaster management, floods, droughts, earthquakes; Tsunami, cyclones and landslides; Agroforestry and carbon sequestration.
Unit 13
Statistics: definition, object and scope; Frequency distribution; Mean, median, mode and standard deviation, introduction to correlation and regression; Experimental designs: basic principles, completely randomized, randomized block, Latin square and split plot designs.
