Growth, Genetics and Molecular characterization in Ailanthus excelsa

Preface Foundations of green revolution in agriculture were based on superior high yielding new crop varieties supported with good extension services and marketing support, likewise tremendous gains in productivity and quality of timber can be achieved with the use of genetically improved seed and clonal planting stock of tree species in agroforestry systems. Vegetatively propagated saplings developed from a single superior tree with most desirable qualities along with the ortet constitute a clone. Therefore, clonal saplings of each clone are uniform and true to type with all the genetic qualities of the mother tree. Each clone represents a particular genotype and the genetic traits differ from clone to clone. All tree species amenable to cost effective vegetative propagation can be cloned for development and deployment of genetically superior clonal planting stock for reforestation and agroforestry programmes. Ailanthus excelsa is one of the widely acclimatized deciduous tree species distributed throughout India. This species has an added advantage over the other Multi Purpose Tree Species (MPTS) as it is fast growing and short rotation agro-forestry species.