Early performance trial of four Malaysian commercial bamboos in Shouthern Peninsular Malaysia

• Main Authors: Mohamed, Azmy, Abdullah, Nur Mastura Hayati, Halis, Rasmina, Wan Abd. Kadir, Wan Rashidah
• Format: Article
• Language: English; English
• Published: 2009
• Online Access: http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/14171/1/Early%20performance%20trial%20of%20four%20Malaysian%20commercial%20bamboos%20in%20Shouthern%20Peninsular%20Malaysia.pdf; http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/14171/; http://wwwsst.ums.edu.my/data/file/PbeUgOp7Q7Mn.pdf

Bamboo has been recognized as the second importance non-timber forest produced by Malaysian Government. It can be a good substitute for timber in producing high value added products. In realizing the importance of this plant, the raw materials need to be exploited and tried on the suitability of planting bamboo as a plantation basis. Even though some planting trials have been done in the country, there is no study done on the growth performance of commercial Malaysian bamboos in Johore. In 1992, four Malaysian commercial bamboos were planted at East Johore Development Authority (Lembaga Kemajuan Johor Tenggara – KEJORA). The species were Bambusa vulgaris, Dendrocalamus asper, Gigantochloa 'Brang' and Gigantochloa levis. Six months year old planting materials from branch cuttings were planted at Forest Research Institute Malaysia's (FRIM) nursery and later transferred to Johore with a distance of 6 x 6 m. A simple randomized complete block designed was used with four replicates where each replicate consisted of alternate single line of each four commercial species mentioned earlier with 16 holes per line. Parameters such as the number of shoots sprouted, diameter at breast height (dbh) and plant's height were monitored. The data were observed for 17 months. Dendrocalamus asper and Gigantochloa levis, both showed high survival rates. In addition, their basal area showed more coverage area than the other two species.