Canopy management | Practices & Information
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Canopy management is essential for enhancing the productivity and quality of agricultural crops, as unmanaged canopies can reduce light penetration and negatively affect crop yields. Techniques such as pollarding, partial crown removal, and lopping can optimize light access to understorey crops. Effective management ensures a leaf area index that promotes better sunlight penetration and improves overall agricultural outcomes.
Canopy management | Practices & Information
- 2. WHAT IS CANOPY? Canopy is the above ground portion of a plant community or crop, formed by the collection of individual plant crowns.
- 3. WHY CANOPY MANAGEMENT? Unmanaged tree canopy not only reduces the productivity of agricultural crops, but nevertheless deteriorates the quality of produce as well. 1. Canopy size decides the transmission of photosynthetically active radiation to the understorey crops. 2. Canopy management practices like pollarding and partial crown removal not only affects foliage and branch but also modifies physiological parameters and resource utilization pattern.
- 4. CANOPY MANAGEMENT PRACTICES POLLARDING Pollarding is a method of pruning that keeps trees and shrubs smaller than they would naturally grow. It is normally started once a tree or shrub reaches a certain height, and annual pollarding will restrict the plant to that height. PARTIAL CROWN REMOVAL Partial crown removal refers to the direct alteration of tree crown. It ensures proper light penetration to the crops on the lower layers. Light penetration is an important factor and Partial crown removal helps to maintain the level.
- 5. LOPPING Tree lopping is the process of trimming various sections of a tree. Lopping may involve clearing away branches or limbs, or even shortening trunks. THINNING A felling made in an immature stand for the purpose of improving the growth and form of trees that remain, without permanently breaking the canopy. CANOPY MANAGEMENT PRACTICES
- 6. LIGHT AND SHADE Light is one of the main climatic factors, which drives production. The quantity as well as quality of solar radiation transmitted by tree canopy decides growth and productivity potential of the field crops. amount of solar radiation intercepted by the tree canopy is responsible for production of foliage and branch wood biomass. Major agricultural crops grown under agroforestry trees are shade sensitive. so are bound to be adversely affected on account of shading. Shade intensity and duration both will have strong negative effects on the performance of understorey crops. Many studies have concluded that shading caused due to the presence of tree canopies is a major factor causing crop yield reduction.
- 7. EMERGENT LAYER CANOPY LAYER UNDERSTORY LAYER FOREST FLOOR FOREST CANOPY LAYERS 100 % 10 % 79 % 7 % 2 %2 % LIGHT
- 8. EMERGENT LAYER Consists of giant emergent trees that tower above the surrounding canopy. The air is much drier and moderately strong winds blow through their branches. CANOPY LAYERS CANOPY LAYER Found directly beneath the over story layer (emergent layer). The primary life sustaining layer with an abundance of food and forms a natural roof over the remaining two layers beneath.
- 9. UNDERSTORY LAYER Directly underneath the canopy layer and on top of the forest floor. This layer is a dark, sometimes almost impenetrable natural habitat like vines, shrub and broadleaf trees. CANOPY LAYERS FOREST FLOOR The Forest Floor is the ground layer. Only around 2% of the total light reaches down this layer Quality of the soil is extremely poor and very few plants are found growing in this area.
- 10. CONCLUSION Any agroforestry system consisting trees having leaf area index (LAI) between 4 and 6 may render it less productive and/ or uneconomical due to developing canopies. On the expected lines, unmanaged tree canopy not only reduces the productivity of agricultural crops, but nevertheless deteriorates the quality of produce as well. Good Canopy management results in good sun light penetration and good yield.
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