Seven forestry professionals
from India completed their
program at UF, where they studied a variety of forestry techniques.

The participants were mid- to upper-level researchers in forestry and agroforestry at the Indian Council for Forestry Research and Education. The Center for Subtropical Agroforestry in UF’s School of Forest Resources and Conservation conducted the training under the direction of Distinguished Professor P.K. Nair. The three-month session began July 30.

CSTAF designed programs to meet the needs of individual participants. Learning new research techniques was a common topic of their agenda.

"We are interested in methodologies to study tree crop and soil interaction," said C. Buvaneswaran, who works with forest productivity including teak forests. Buvaneswaran was pursuing his interest in forest productivity and agroforestry. The focus of his work in India is soil and tree-crop interaction, and methods for assessing the ecological impact of agricultural practices.

Two participants studied agroforestry, three studied forest ecology and ecosystems, and two studied the socioeconomics of forestry.

The course included lectures and workshops on the UF campus as well as study tours to UF’s Tropical Research and Education Center in Homestead, Educational Concerns for Hunger Organization, or ECHO, in North Fort Myers, and other sites. Participants in agroforestry and ecology visited the West Florida Research and Education Center in Milton, where experiments in agroforestry are underway. Working with UF researcher Shibu Jose, they gained experience in data collection in experimental agroforestry systems. D. Rajasugunasekar reviewed two experiments underway in Milton that assess an agroforestry system comprised of tree crops and cotton. Although this particular cropping system probably is not applicable to India, the methodology and data-gathering techniques such as light measurements will have direct application, he said.

Participants with interest in forest ecology worked with Daniel Zarin and Martin Barker, both in the School of Forest Resources and Conservation, on research projects in ecology.

Smita Bisht, who works in seed testing and handling for commercial operations in India, focused her studies on forest ecology. She said that learning new methodologies for evaluating forest ecology issues and for developing tree seeds will help her in her work in improving commercial tree varieties in India.

Soil and Water Science researcher Vimala Nair organized a two-week program of topics related to soil characteristics and agroforestry, including movement and management of nutrients in the soil and various useful laboratory techniques.