Feasibility Study of Business in Agarwood Inoculation at Different Stem Diameters and Inoculation Periods

Indonesia signifies as the biggest agarwood producer country in the world. Its demand and price tend to increase and have brought about over exploitation of agarwood. Consequently, its population in nature has decreased significantly. To overcome the situation, since 1995, agarwood has been included in the CITES Appendix II. However, illegal exploitation remains persistent and reaches an excessive level. In order to deal with it, agarwood cultivation and its artificial production have been undertaken at several provinces in Indonesia. Some supporting factors for agarwood cultivation and artificial production are the availability of potential land for extensive cultivation, appropriate agro climate condition, simple cultivation technique and already being well adopted by farmers, the availability of necessary pathogen for agarwood inoculation, and the increasing demand with relatively high price. The research aims to analyze the feasibility study of agarwood inoculation business at several stem diameters (15 - 25 cm; 26 -35 cm and 36 - 40 cm) and periods of inoculation (1 - 5 years). Data were collected through field observation and literature study. The results showed that inoculation on agarwood producer tree stands at 12.5% interest rate afforded positive net present value (NPV), internal rate of return (IRR) is much higher than market interest and benefit cost (B/C) ratio >2 for those three diameter classes. Furthermore, if agarwood harvesting is delayed until five years after inoculation, NPV, IRR and B/C ratio would be much higher. It can be concluded that inoculation on agarwood producer tree stands (at appropriate age for inoculation) is feasible to be developed

Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi Increased Plant Growth and Nutrient Concentrations of Milkwood Tropical Tree Species Alstonia Scholaris Under Greenhouse Conditions

The objective of this study was to determine the effect of five arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi on the early growth of Alstonia scholaris (milkwood) seedlings. The seedlings were inoculated with Glomus clarum Nicholson & Schenk, Gigaspora decipiens Hall & Abbott, Glomus sp. ACA Tulasne & Tulasne, Entrophospora sp. Ames & Scheneider, and Glomus sp. ZEA Tulasne & Tulasne, and uninoculated (control) under greenhouse conditions. Percentage of AM colonization, plant growth, survival rate, mycorrhizal dependency (MD), shoot nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), potassium (K), calcium (Ca), and magnesium (Mg) concentrations were measured after 150 days. Survival rates were higher in the AM-colonized seedlings at 150 days after transplantation than those in the control seedlings. Mycorrhizal Dependency (MD) values were 80, 78, 79, 78 and 78% in A. scholaris inoculated with G. clarum, G. decipiens, Glomus sp. ACA, Entrophospora sp., and Glomus sp. ZEA, respectively. Shoot N, P, K, Ca and Mg content of the seedlings were increased by AM fungi as much as 82-86, 81-86, 81-86, 88-91 and 85-90%, respectively. The percentage of AM colonization of A. scholaris ranged from 64 to 91 %. Colonization by five AM fungi increased plant height, diameter, total fresh weight, total dry weight and total length root. Glomus clarum was more effective in improving nutrient content and plant growth of A. scholaris than G. decipiens, Entrophospora sp., Glomus sp. ZEA and Glomus sp. ACA. Total root length of A. scholaris ranged from 1,180 to 1,310 cm. The results suggest that AM fungi can accelerate the establishment of the seedling stocks of A. scholaris. This finding would contribute to the effort of establishing A. scholaris plantation

Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi Increased Early Growth of Gaharu Wood of Aquilaria Malaccencsis and a. Crasna Under Greenhouse Conditions

Gaharu wood stand has an important source of profits to the forest community in South and Southeast Asia tropical forest countries, but Aquilaria species have reduced in number and turn out to be endangered due to overexploitation. Today, the planting stocks of Aquilaria species are not sufficient to sustain the yield of gaharu wood and promote forest conservation. The objective of this study was to determine the effect of five arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi: Entrophospora sp., Gigaspora decipiens, Glomus clarum, Glomus sp. ZEA, and Glomus sp. ACA, on the early growth of Aquilaria malaccensis and A. crasna under greenhouse conditions. The seedlings of Aquilaria spp. were inoculated with Entrophospora sp., Gi. decipiens, Glomus clarum, Glomus sp. ZEA, Glomus sp. ACA and uninoculated (control) under greenhouse conditions. Then, percentage AM colonization, plant growth, survival rate and nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) content and mycorrhizal dependence (MD) were measured. The percentage AM colonization of A. malaccensis and A. crasna ranged from 83 to 97% and from 63 to 78%, respectively. Colonization by five AM fungi increased plant height, diameter, and shoot and root dry weights. N and P content of the seedlings were also increased by AM colonization. Survival rates were higher in the AM-colonized seedlings at 180 days after transplantation than those in the control seedlings. The MD of Aquilaria species was higher than 55 %. The results suggested that AM fungi can be inoculated`to Aquilaria species under nursery conditions to obtain vigorous seedlings, and the field experiment is underway to clarify the role of AM fungi under field conditions

Effect of Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Colonization on Early Growth and Nutrient Content of Two Peat­ Swamp Forest Tree Species Seedlings, Calophyllum Hosei and Ploiarium Alternifolium

Tropical peat-swamp forests are one of the largest near-surface reserves of terrestrial organic carbon, but rnany peat-swamp forest tree species decreased due over-exploitation, forest fire and conversion of natural forests into agricultural lands. Among those species are slow-growing Calophyllum hoseiand Ploiarium alternifolium, two species are good for construction of boats, furniture, house building and considerable attention from pharmacological viewpoint for human healthly. This study was aimed at understanding the effects of arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi on early growth of C. hosei and P.alternifoliumunder greenhouse condition. Seedlings of C. hosei and P.alternifoliumwere inoculated with AM fungi: Glomus clarum and Glomus aggregatum ,or uninoculated under greenhouse condition during 6 months. AM colonization, plant growth, survival rate and nutrient content (P, Zn and B) were measured. The percentage of C. hoseiand P.alternifolium ranged from 27-32% and 18-19%, respectively. Both inoculated seedling species had greater plant height, diameter, leaf number, shoot and root dry weight than control seedlings. Nutrient content of inoculated plants were increased with AM colonization- Survival rates of inoculated plants were higher (100%) than those of control plants (67%). The results suggested that inoculation of AM fungi could improve the early growth of C. hoseiand P.alternifolium grown in tropical peat-swamp forest therefore this finding has greater potential impact if this innovative technology applied in field scales which are socially acceptable, commercially profitable and environmentally friendly

Mycorrhizal Fungi Increased Early Growth of Tropical Tree Seedlings in Adverse Soil

The rate of reforestation has increased throughout the countries in Southeast Asia region during the last 20 years. At the same time, inconvenient situations such as forest destruction, forest exploitation, illegal logging, clear-cut forest areas, old agricultural lands, post-wildfire areas, conversion of natural forests into plantations, resettlement areas, mine lands, and amended adverse soils have also been increasing significantly. Mycorrhizas, hovewer, play important role to increase plant growth, enrich nutrient content and enhance survival rates of forest tree species in temperate and sub-tropical regions. Unfortunately, a little information so far is available regarding the effect of mycorrhizas on growth of tree species growing in tropical forests. In relevant, several experiments were carried out to determine whether ectomycorrhizal (ECM) fungi and arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi can enhance mycorrhizal colonization, nutrient content, and plant growth of some tropical rain forest tree species in Indonesia under nursery and field conditions. The families of tropical tree species used in the experiment were Thymelaeaceae (Aquilaria crassna), Leguminosae (Sesbania grandifolia), Guttiferae (Ploiarium alternifolium and Calophyllum hosei), Apocynaceae (Dyera polyphylla and Alstonia scholaris), and Dipterocarpaceae (Shorea belangeran). These families are important as they provide timber and non-timber forest products (NTFPs). This paper discusses the role of mycorrhizal fungi in increasing early growth of tropical tree seedlings in adverse soil

Studies on Functional Bacteria of Indonesian Tropical Forest Plants for Biorehabilitation of Degraded Lands

Forest degradations have left vast amount of damaged and abandoned lands in Indonesia. In this paper, we present our approaches in rehabilitation of adverse soils using functional bacteria isolated from plant species of Indonesian tropical rain forests. For these purposes, we collected bacteria from various bio-geo-climatically different forests and conducted bioassays to test these bacterial abilities in improving plant growth. Repeated seedling-based studies on Shorea spp., Alstonia scholaris, Acacia crassicarpa, and Agathis lorantifolia have revealed that many bacteria were able to promote plant growth at early stage in the nursery. Various plant responses towards inoculations suggested that although forest soils maintain highly diverse and potent bacteria, it is necessary to select appropriate approaches to obtain optimum benefits from these plant-bacteria interactions. Our ideas and futures studies for further management of these plant- bacteria interactions for biorehabilitation are also discussed

Initial Screening of Fast-growing Tree Species Being Tolerant of Dry Tropical Peatlands in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia

An investigation of the recruit, survivorship and growth of naturally regenerating tree species on canal bank was conducted to select tree species which are suitable for preceding planting in drained and burnt peat swamp lands in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia. Top of the canal bank were open, with greater soil moisture deficit and higher soil temperatures than on the next intact forest floor. The abundant trees were asam-asam (Ploiarium alternifolium),garunggang (Cratoxylon arborescens) and tumih (Combretocarpus rotundatus). New regeneration of these trees on the canal bank was confirmed during this investigation and mortality was very low. These results indicated that P. alternifolium,C. arborescens and C. rotundatuswere tolerant of intensive radiation, soil drought and high soil temperatures during germination. The annual height increments were 189-232 cm y-1 (P. alternifolium),118-289 cm y-1 (C. arborescens)and 27-255 cm y-1 (C. rotundatus); thus, these three species could be classified as fast-growing with tolerance to open and dry conditions. Such characteristics were important to avoid competition with herbs, ferns,and/ or climbers. The results·suggest that P.alternifolium,C. arborescens and C. rotundatusare suitable for preceding planting for the rehabilitation of the disturbed peat swamp forests of Central Kalimantan

Anti Fungal Activity of Wood Extract of Aquilaria Crassna Pierre Ex Lecomte Against Agarwood-inducing Fungi, Fusarium Solani

This paper provided information regarding artificial agar wood production. Fungi are considered as biological agent for agarwood formation and agarwood is assumed as tree defense mechanism product. This research was aimed at investigating the anti fungal activity (AFA) of Aquilaria crassna, one of the agar wood-producing trees, against Fusarium solani in vitro. Aquilaria crassna wood mill was extracted by 70% ethanol to investigate the anti fungal activity. The result are Aquilariacrassnaexhibited low extractives content, which was only 2.0% (w/w) and a low anti fungal activity in vitro, especially for ethanol extract. However, further fractionation and bioassay showed that the most active component was likely in the ethyl-acetate soluble fraction that exhibited strong anti fungal activity (52.5%) at 4.0% of concentration

Characterization of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus communities of Aquilaria crassna and Tectona grandis roots and soils in Thailand plantations

Aquilaria crassna Pierre ex Lec. and Tectona grandis Linn.f. are sources of resin-suffused agarwood and teak timber, respectively. This study investigated arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungus community structure in roots and rhizosphere soils of A. crassna and T. grandis from plantations in Thailand to understand whether AM fungal communities present in roots and rhizosphere soils vary with host plant species and study sites. Terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism complemented with clone libraries revealed that AM fungal community composition in A. crassna and T. grandis were similar. A total of 38 distinct terminal restriction fragments (TRFs) were found, 31 of which were shared between A. crassna and T. grandis. AM fungal communities in T. grandis samples from different sites were similar, as were those in A. crassna. The estimated average minimum numbers of AM fungal taxa per sample in roots and soils of T. grandis were at least 1.89 vs. 2.55, respectively, and those of A. crassna were 2.85 vs. 2.33 respectively. The TRFs were attributed to Claroideoglomeraceae, Diversisporaceae, Gigasporaceae and Glomeraceae. The Glomeraceae were found to be common in all study sites. Specific AM taxa in roots and soils of T. grandis and A. crassna were not affected by host plant species and sample source (root vs. soil) but affected by collecting site. Future inoculum production and utilization efforts can be directed toward the identified symbiotic associates of these valuable tree species to enhance reforestation efforts