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Home▶ Journals▶ Indian Journal of Agroforestry▶Archive▶Vol. 27 No. 2 (2025)▶Comparative Analysis of Bark Characteristics in Bijasal…
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Comparative Analysis of Bark Characteristics in Bijasal (Pterocarpus Marsupium)

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V.B. Shambharkar — Ph.D. (Forestry) Student, Department of Silviculture and Agroforestry, COF, NAU, Navasari, Gujarat
M.B. Tandel — Professor (Agroforestry) & I/C Head (SAF), College of Forestry, NAU, Navsari
R.P. Gunaga — Professor (FB) & IC Head (FPU), College of Forestry, NAU, Navsari
S.K. Sinha — Associate Professor (WST), College of Forestry, NAU, Navsari
V.B. Patel — Associate Professor (Forest Biotechnology), College of Forestry, NAU, Navsari
B.S. Desai — Desai, Assistant Professor (Botany), College of Forestry, NAU, Navsari
Y.A. Garde — Assistant Professor (Agricultural Statistics), N.M. College of Agriculture, NAU, Navsari
Published 21 Oct 2026 Vol. 27 No. 2 (2025), pp. 117-121 ● Open access
❝ How to cite 🔗 https://doi.org/10.48165/ija.2025.27.02.13
Formats:Full text (HTML)JATS XMLPDF ● Open access
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Abstract

Pterocarpus marsupium Roxb. is a valuable multipurpose forest tree in India and Sri Lanka, popularly known as Bijasal because of its high-quality wood and pharmaceutically bioactive compound, especially from the stem bark and heartwood. Bark type is an important feature for characterization of Pterocarpus species, which varies according to its locations. Therefore, bark characteristics variation study was conducted in two states viz., Gujarat (GJ) and Maharashtra (MH) which were selected purposively as the site known for its abundantly presence; the different five places of each state were used as locations depending on the available resources. In P. marsupium, mostly rough bark was observed in all locations, except GJ-PM-4 and MH-PM-1 in which the bark texture was smooth, but in MH-PM-1 the rough bark was found at lower part of tree stem; in GJ-PM-4 and GJ-PM-3 trees the bark was fissures and cracks; whereas in MH-PM-5, special feature of bark was observed that the bark was rough and exfoliation without exudates to no-exfoliation with equal cracks; the vertical fissured bark was mostly observed in all locations of P. marsupium except GJ-PM-4 and GJ- PM-5. The bark colour mostly varied from light brown to blackish brown in all location’s trees, except in GJ-PM-3, GJ-PM-4, GJ-PM-3 and MH-PM-5 in which the bark colour was yellowish brown; the bark flakes pattern varied from regular to irregular in all locations; while flakes shape was varied from no flakes to strips, square and rectangular, whereas in GJ-PM-3 the inverted flakes was recorded; while in the barks of location MH-PM-3 had lunar shape flakes with irregular type.

KeywordsPterocarpus marsupiumBark variationExfoliationFissuredFlakesColour
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