Abstract

India's climate ranges from temperate in the northern Himalayas to tropical in southern peninsula. Consequently, incidence and severity of seedlings diseases also show tremendous variation, since they chiefly depend upon the prevailing climatic conditions and host species. Damping-off, which occurs throughout India, is the most serious disease of young seedlings. In temperate and drier regions, Pythium, Fusarium and Macrophomina are the main nursery pathogens, whereas, in tropical humid regions, ubiquitous facultative parasites, Rhizoctonia, Sclerotium, and Cylindrocladium are the major pathogens causing a wide variety of serious diseases. Caterpillars (Order Lepidoptera) that defoliate seedlings are the most damaging insects in Indian forest nurseries. Root feeding insects such as termites and white grubs are also economically important in many forestry crops. Though millions of seedlings of tree species are raised in forest nurseries every year throughout India, and pests