Height-Age Growth Curve Modelling for Different Tree Species in Drylands of North Karnataka

Abstract

Among 24 tree species tested for height and age relationship under agroforestry systems of northern dry zone of Karnataka, Gompertz model fitted well for 9 species, Weibull model for 7 species, Exponential model found well suited for 5 species and Richards model for 3 species respectively. Among the different models tried in predicting height growth for 24 different species Gompertz was found better for Acacia auriculiformis (R 2 = 0.9974), Acacia nilotica (R 2 = 0.9981), Bahunia purpurea (R 2 = 0.9971), Butea monosperma (R 2 = 0.9992), Casuarina equsitifolia (R 2 = 0.9914), Cassia siamea (R 2 = 0.9986), Inga dulce (R 2 = 0.9968), Samanea saman (R 2 = 0.9995), and Tamarindus indica (R 2 = 0.9976). Hence, Gompertz model can be best adopted while predicting height growth of native species grown under dry land situation.