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The copyright of a submitted article is only transferred to the publishers if and when the article is accepted for publication. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, electrostatic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior written permission of the publishers.
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Effect of Tap Root Size, Percentage Rootlets Retention and Planting Depth on Biomass Production of Teak (Tectona Grandis Linn. F.) Stumps
Abstract
Teak (Tectona grandis Linn. F.) is a highly preferred plantation species in Ghana. Stumps are usually used to establish teak plantation. There has been persistent problem of low survival rate of planted teak stumps in large-scale plantation establishment in the country. A 4x3x3 factorial experiment in randomized complete design in two blocks was undertaken to evaluate the dependence of length of tape root bellow root collar, percentage of retention of rootlets and depth of planting of stumps on the biomass of planted teak (Tectona grandis Linn. F) stumps. The main aim was to develop suitable method of converting teak seedlings into stumps and appropriate planting practice to improve the survival and growth of teak stumps. The quadratic reciprocal with an optimal level model (79 ≤ R2 ≤ 95 %) appears to be precise modeling the trends in the number of shoots production on sprouted teak stumps over time for length of tap root and depth of planting of stumps. Length of tape root below, percentage of retention of rootlets and depth of planting of stumps significantly affected the growth of tree height, tree collar diameter, stem dry weight, root dry weight, leaf dry weight and total tree dry weight. The two-factor interaction of length of tap root and percentage of retention of rootlets also had a significant influence on tree growth, except leaf dry weight. The best biomass production was observed for non-treated stump tap root and rootlets and planting at 9 cm soil depth ensuring a gain of about 486 % of tree dry weight over the traditional method of stump preparation and planting.
