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Aerial seeding in Aravalli region
Why is it in News?
- The Haryana Forest Department has started aerial seeding across the state on a pilot basis.
Details:
- Technique will allow plantation in sections of the Aravallis that are either difficult to access or inaccessible altogether.
- Aerial seeding:
(1) It is a technique of plantation.
(2) Seed balls – seeds covered with a mixture of clay, compost, char and other components – are sprayed on the ground.
(3) It is done by using aerial devices, including planes, helicopters or drones.
(4) Coating of clay, compost, char and other material provides the required weight for seeds to drop on a predetermined location rather than disperse in the wind.
- Advantages of technique:
(1) Areas that are inaccessible, have steep slopes, are fragmented or disconnected with no forest routes, make conventional plantation difficult.
(2) They can be targeted with aerial seeding.
(3) The process of the seed’s germination and growth is such that it requires no attention after it is dispersed.
(4) They eliminate the need for ploughing and digging holes in the soil and the seeds do not need to be planted, since they are already surrounded by soil, nutrients, and microorganisms.
(5) The clay shell of these pellets along with the other items in the mixture also protects them from birds, ants and rats.
- Species selection:
(1) The species selected have to be native to the area.
(2) Species should be hardy, with seeds that are of an appropriate size for preparing seed balls.
(3) Species should have a higher survival percentage.
- The idea of the forest department is not to replace conventional methods but to supplement them.