Agroforestry: Principles and Practices

The origin of agroforestry practices, i.e. growing trees and shrubs with food and fruit crops and grasses is traditional and very old; but the science of agroforestry is new. Years of experience and experiments have shown that agroforestry as a land-use system is capable of yielding both food and wood and at the same time helps in conserving and rehabilitating the ecosystems. It has the capability to increase the overall productivity of land, maintain the nutrient balance in the soil and above all protect the nature. In the recent years, agroforestry has been recommended as a core subject in the curriculum of B. Sc. (Forestry) and B. Sc. (Agriculture) courses of the state agricultural universities. Keeping this in view, the book on has been written for the students. The common people, who love trees, would also find it worth reading. The book has been divided into sixteen chapters covering very comprehensive information on all aspects of agroforestry including history, concepts, classification, management, soil productivity, tree-crop interactions, multipurpose trees and their propagation, agroforestry for different agroclimatic zones, watershed and wasteland management through agroforestry, climate change adaptation and mitigation, diagnosis & design, experimental analysis, benefits and limitations, economics and extension of agroforestry. Definitions of agroforestry terminology, selected references and related web links are also added for the easy understanding and further study on the subject.