Drylands typically face severe water scarcity and commonly have scanty and dry vegetation. They cover 41% of the earth’s land surface and house an estimated 2 billion people (FAO, 2019). While drylands are adaptable to climatic variability and water stress, they are also vulnerable to degradation by anthropogenic activities such as deforestation, urbanization, and unsustainable […]

Wood has been a companion of humans since prehistoric times and has been through the passage of civilisations. In today’s context of ‘Global warming’ an alarming emergency, wood is the most carbon neutral material available. Heartwood is the most important natural and endlessly renewable source of energy and therefore has a major role as an […]

One might wonder. How does tree start production of heartwood? What happens in tree that triggers formation of heartwood? Let’s understand the process of heartwood formation from the metabolic perspective of plant. All of us know that tree is a living entity with trillions of living cells. Each cell in a tree carries out all […]

Introduction Sandalwood was once considered as the primary source of Mysore state economy where the entire budget was planned based on sandalwood. Although India has been known for its sandalwood production for decades, it was largely confined to the forests of South Indian states and the plantations of these state governments. But, a policy change […]