PertanikaJ. Trap. Agric. Sci. 25(2): 121 - 129 (2002) ISSN: 1511-3701© Universiti Putra Malaysia Press

Fertilizer Requirements of Newly Planted Teak(Tectmw grandis L.f.) Seedlings

SHEIKH ALI ABOD & MUHAMMAD TAHIR SIDDIQUIFaculty ofFarestry, Universiti Putra Malaysia

43400 Serdang, Selangar, Malaysia

Keywords: Fertilizers, Tectona grandis

ABSTRAK

Keputusan kajian ini menunjukkan bahawa pertambahan ketinggian dan perepang anak benih pokok jati yangbaru ditanam dipengaruhi oleh baja N dan P dengan bererti. Berat daun, pucuk, akar dan berat keseluruhananak benih menunjukkan respons statistik yang bererti kepada penggunaan baja semasa penuaian, satu tahunselepas penanaman. Nisbah akar: pucuk menurun hasil penggunaan baja. Kajian ini menunjukkan bahawapenggunaan 300 kg/ha "triple superphosphate" dan 200 kg/ha sulfat ammonia dikehendaki untuk menggalakkantumbesaran ketinggian, perepang dan jumlah berat anak benih pokok jati yang baru ditanam di tanah siriPenambang.

ABSTRACT

The results of the present study indicated that height and diameter increments of newly planted teak seedlingswere significantly affected lJy Nand P fertilizers. Leaf weight, shoot weight, root weight and total dry matterproduction showed statistically significant responses to fertilizer application at harvest, one year after plant-ing. Root-shoot ratio decreased as a result of fertilizer application. The present study also revealed that theapplication of 300 kg/ha triple superphosphate and 200 kg/ha ammonium sulphate are required to enhancethe height and diameter growth and total plant weight of newly planted teak seedlings on Penambang soilseries.

INTRODUCTION

Plantation forestry in Malaysia began in 1957with the planting of teak in the northern statesof Perlis and Kedah. Later in the 1960s and1970s, tropical pines, especially Pinus caribaeavar. hondurensis were introduced in Johore andPahang as plantation species to curtail the im-port of pulp and paper products. In 1982, theCompensatory Forest Plantation Project (CFPP)was launched to meet the requirements for gen-eral utility timber. However, no comprehensiveplanting programme was undertaken for qualitywood timber species such as teak. No detailedresearch studies were carried out to monitor thegrowth or to develop a fertilization regime foroptimum growth of teak in Malaysia except fora preliminary study conducted by Sundralingam(1983) .

A fertilizer trial was therefore conducted todetermine the tree growth response to fertiliza-tion under field conditions.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Experimental Site

The experimental site was located at the ForestResearch Institute Malaysia (FRIM) sub-station,17th milestone, Jalan Padang Besar, Perlis at anelevation of 33 m above sea level (Fig. 1). It fallswithin latitude 60 40' North and longitude 1000

15' East. Generally, the site is flat with an aver-age monthly precipitation of 136 mm. The soiltype is Penambang Series with sandy loam tex-ture.

The trial plot was set up in compartmentNo.17. Four-month old uniform sized seedlingswere transplanted to the field in July. 1995. Thespacing between plants was 4 x 4 m.

SHEIKH ALI ABOD & MUHAMMAD TAHIR SIDDIQUI

101 0 105 0

;KELANTAN(~--, "" ..............,

\

f

~' __/": PAHANG

F.RAK

/-\'._-~\.\- ...

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KEDAH ->" /,!~~/~!,>

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Fig. 1: Map of Peninsular Malaysia showing the experimental area

Experimental Design and Treatments

The experimental design was a randomized com-plete block (RCBD) with nine treatments andfour replications. There were 25 plants per treat-ment giving a total of 100 plants in four replica-tions. The height and diameter of the middlenine plants from each plot were measuredmonthly. The experiment was terminated after12 months. Each plot was demarcated by insert-ing one meter long PVC pipe into each cornerof the plot. There was one row of buffer trees toseparate the plots and two rows to separate theblocks.

Three levels of nitrogen and phosphorusand one level of K (200 kg/ha) were applied inthe form of ammonium sulphate, triple super-phosphate, and muriate of potash. The fertiliz-ers and dosages used are shown in Table 1. Thedifferent treatment combinations are given inTable 2. These treatments will be designated as:T1 (NOPO), T2, ( OP1), T3 (NOP2), T4 (N1PO),T5 ( 1P1), T6 ( 1P2), T7 (N2PO), T8 (N2P1)and T9 (N2P2) in the text.

The fertilizers were split into two doses.The first dose was applied one month aftertransplanting the seedlings to the field and thesecond dose, six months later. A radius of half toone metre circle for weeding was maintainedaround each seedling before fertilizer applica-tion and then every month before recording thedata. The fertilizer was placed in a shallow circlemade around the tree and then lightly coveredwith soil. Randomization of the treatment andlay-out of the experiment is as shown in Fig. 2.

Growth Measurements and Data Analysis

Height and basal stem diameter of the nineselected plants per plot per treatment weremeasured on a monthly basis for a period of 12months. The relative height and stem diameterwere then calculated from the initial and finalmeasurements. Six plants from the heavily fer-tilized plots and six from the control plot weresampled destructively to determine the effect offertilizer application on dry matter productionof teak plants.

122 PERTANIKAJ. TROP. AGRIC. SCI. VOL. 25 NO.2, 2002

FERTILIZER REQUIREMENTS OF NEWLY PlANTED TEAK (TECTONA GRANDIS L.f) SEEDLI GS

TABLE 1Levels of nutrients applied

Commercial Fertilizer Element Levell Level 2 Level 3(g/plant) (g/plant)

Ammonium sulphate0 160 320(21 %N) N

(0 kg/ha) (100 kg/ha) (200 kg/ha)Triple superphosphate

P20

S0 240 480(48% P

2O

S)

(0 kg/ha) (150 kg/ha) (300 kg/ha)Muriate of Potash

320 320(60% ~O) ~O(200 kg/ha) (200 kg/ha)

TABLE 2Fertilizer treatments

1 NoPo 4 Nlo 7 2PO2 NOP] 5Nl] 8 N2P]3 NOP2 6 N]P2 9 N2P2

Rl R1 RJ R..

1'6 I-----------1'3

l'2

1'7

1'3

1'5

Til

1'6

T..

1'9

T1

1'6

1'9

T2

T3

1.\

Ts

1'7

T1

T8

'1'3

1'5

Tg

1'1

1'2

1'9

T6

1'4

1'7

Fig. 2: Lay-out plan of the experiment

The Statistical Analysis System (SAS) wasused to calculate the analyses of variance(ANOVA). One-way ANOVA was performed fora randomized block design with the individualfertilizer treatments as the main effects andinteractions between the treatments as the sec-ondary effects. Duncan's New Multiple RangeTest was used to compare the mean valuesbetween treatments.

RESULTS

Height Increment

Application of N and P fertilizers significantly(p

SHEIKH ALI ABOD & MUHAMMAD TAHIR SIDDIQUI

all the three levels of fertilizers applied. Theinteractions (Table 3) between N and P forheight increment were also significant (p

FERTILIZER REQUIREMENTS OF NEWLY PlANTED TEAK (TECTONA GRANDIS L.f) SEEDLINGS

() 1Level of P

2

I1Il NO

SHEIKH ALI ABOD & MUHAMMAD TAHIR SIDDIQUI

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FERTILIZER REQUIREMENTS OF NEWLY PLANTED TEAK (TECTONA GRANDIS L.f.) SEEDLINGS

leaf and shoot weights. Table 2 shows the signifi-cant response of root weight to fertilizer applica-tion. The difference between fertilized andunfertilized plants was 170 per cent (Table 2).

Root-shoot ratio was found to decrease withfertilizer application (Table 2). The differencebetween fertilized and unfertilized plants, how-ever, was not significant (P

SHEIKH ALI ABOD & MUHAMMAD TAHIR SIDDIQUI

1992; Cromer and Jarvis 1990; Kirschbaum andTompkins 1990; Krischbaum et al. 1992; Sands etal. 1992).

AKNOWLEDGEMENTWe sincerely thank the Director General of theForest Research Institute Malaysia for allowingus to use the facilities at the Institute's ResearchSulrstation in Mata Air, Perlis.

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LINDER, S. and D.A. RooK. 1984. Effects of Min-eral Nutrition on Carbon Dioxide Exchangeand Partitioning of Carbon in Trees. InNutrition ofPlantation Forests ed. G.D. Bowenand E.KS. Nambiar. p. 211-236. London:Academic Press.

MORRISON, l.K and N.W. FOSTER. 1995. Effects ofNitrogen, Phosphorus and Magnesium ferti-lizers on growth of a Semomature Jack pineForest, Northwestern Ontario. For. ehron.71(4): 422-425.

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(Received: 23 July 2001)(Accepted: 28 May 2002)

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