Anthocephalus cadamba ( Kadamb tree) is a well known fast growing tree used in industrial agroforestry. Its wood has various uses. I am interested on studies on its seed technological and nursery aspects. How best its seed can be collected, storage time and nursery practices. Its vegetative propagation is also standardized but still seedlings has its importance for mass scale planting material. Please share your valuable points and research articles on the topic.
Propagation Technology
Through Seeds
The ripened fruits are orange in colour, harvested from the trees
during September to December by climbing or shaking the branches
after spreading collection sheets on the ground. The seeds are mature
when the fruit has changed colour to dark brown. The collected fruits
can be allowed to rot for three to four days and pulp is then washed
off by hand in a bucket of water; seeds settled at the bottom are taken
out and dried well. Or, the fruits may be rubbed to form a paste like
slurry, which is passed through a 0.50 mm sieve plate and shaken vigorously (Vijayaraghavan, 2014). The blackish paste sieved
through the plate is collected into a pan and dried to extract seeds.
Each fruit on an average yields 456 mg of seeds. Another method is
by cutting the fruits into small parts and allowing them to dry and
after a few days crush the small parts and separate the seeds. One
gram has around 23,000 to 25,000 seeds..
Seeds can remain viable for up to 6 months at an ambient
temperature (Joker, 2000). According to Martawijaya et al. (1989),
dried seeds stored in airtight containers in a moist room will retain
viability for about one year. The germination rate of fresh seeds is
variable, but generally low at about 25%. When seeds are stored in
cool, airtight boxes for about 2.5 months, a much higher germination
rate (up to 95%) can be obtained.
Because of their small size, the seeds are mixed with fine sand
(1:10) and sown in seedbeds. The sieved seeds need no pre-sowing
treatment. Seeds of about 0.1g (about 2500 seeds) can be sown in
galvanized or wooden trays filled with fine river sand and soil and
treated with fungicide. The seeds better be mixed with sterilized sand
before sowing. They are sown in February at the rate of about 0.2 gm
of seed per m2 of bed. Winter sowing is not successful. Percentage of
germination is high.
The germination of A.cadamba seeds in open beds is generally
difficult. Therefore, plants are invariably raised in shaded beds to
exclude insolation and splashing effects of rain water. Before sowing,
the beds are thoroughly wetted and seeds are broadcast on the top
taking care that they do not get buried in the soil, instead they are
patted with hand. Germination takes place in about three weeks. The
germination percentage is 60-90. The seedlings from the tray can be
pricked and transplanted in polybag containers with fungicide after
attaining a height of 5 cm. Shade cover is needed after transplanting.
Growth is fast under tropical conditions and seedlings could reach
plantable size (30 cm) in 4 to 5 months. Seedlings require periodic
watering in the first stages of development. Common mistakes in
propagation are over-watering and associated disease problems,
over-shading and allowing the germinants to become too large for
easy transplanting leading to malformed tap roots or root curling
in the pots. About 200,000 seedlings can be obtained from 1 kg of seeds in nurseries. Out planting is done with 35-50 cm tall seedlings.
The seedbeds should be protected from heavy rain and not watered
too much as damping-off can be a problem. To prevent damping-off
disease, seedlings should be placed in well-ventilated conditions. A
mild fungicidal spray may also be used to prevent the damping-off
disease (Vijayaraghavan, 2014).
Through Vegetative Propagation
It has been reported that Indole butyric acid (IBA) and Napthaleneacetic acid (NAA) at 500 ppm treatments give better results than
other treatments (Vijayaraghavan, 2014). Sometimes the treatment
with 5000 ppm of IBA during rooting and survival in air layering
can be valuable. Coppicing is another method used for regeneration
in A. cadamba
Thanks Yourmila for giving information of cadamba. if have some reference papers mentioned please do attach.
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