Plant potty !

The Indian state of Uttar Pradesh is attempting to set a world record by planting 10 million trees in a single day on Today. Officials say the plantings are designed to raise awareness of the need to protect the environment.

In all, 10,266,736 saplings will be planted at 9,320 sites across Uttar Pradesh's 70 districts. The record stands at 852,587 trees, planted in 6,284 locations in Tamil Nadu state over three days in 2006.

Forestry officials told the BBC's Ram Dutt Tripathi, in Lucknow, that the location of the sites would be recorded using GPS technology so the record can be independently verified.

Many people have been contacting forest officials wanting to plant trees. Nearly half the trees will be planted by local farmers, officials said.

The Guinness Book of Records told the BBC they had been notified of the world record attempt and were waiting for confirmation.

"The forest department need to put together all their information," a spokeswoman said. "Once they send us their verification pack we can go through all the evidence and decide whether to accept the record."