Abstract:
At present, gliricidia is becoming a commercialized fuel and there is a tendency to grow
Gliricidia as an energy plantation to cater for the increasing demand. Gliricidia is adapted
to wide-ranging agro-climatic and soil conditions and can be cultivated all over Sri Lanka
except in coastal areas, on mountain tops and in arid areas. Further, it was found to offer
series of other complementary benefits as far as soil and environmental aspects are
concerned. Gliricidia is historically grown as a boundary fence tree which does not require
any special agronomic practices, care of pest control measures due to some inherited
genetic characteristics typical of it. It is a leguminous tree with very high rate of nitrogen
fixation. However, there are some issues related to use of gliricidia as a commercialized
fuel, including high initial moisture content, poor drying characteristics and decaying
during storage.
