စာအုပ်စာတမ်း

Nursery Practice of Padauk for Plantation

Dr. Nyan Htun, Forest Research Division.

ABSTRACT

            Padauk , Pterocarpus macrocarpus, Kurz, a beautiful timber producing tree. The timber is excellent for making cabinet, furniture and has a good market value and is liked by the people of Burma. The people of Burma traditionally planted Padauk by cuttings and rarely from seeds. The germination of seeds (in winged fruit) takes a long time even sometimes up to a year. Ways and means are to be found out if there is major plantation project  on the way. This paper outlines the sequence of events normally encountered in raising Padauk in the nursery from seed. This paper presents what to expect in the way of viable seeds per pound of fruit, germination per cent, and seedling growth rates. And it suggests ways of keeping nursery costs low while meeting the production requirements. Fruits from districts like, Yaw, Shwebo, Meikhtila, Yamethin and Toungoo are collected and number of seeds per fruit found out. Methods of extraction of seeds from fruits were presented and number of seeds which can be extracted by a labourer per day and working cost were given. Pretreatment of seeds for hastening the germination were also given and that the cutting of seeds just below micropyle and sown gave faster germination rate of 7-8 days. Different mixtures of soil were used in seed sowing and found out that there were no highly significant result but in pure sand gave the most germination.

Key Words: Padauk, Fruits Cutting, Seed Extraction, Pretreatment, Seeds for Germination, Cost.