Earticle

Teak (Tectona grandis) is one of the most valuable timber yielding species in the world, with predominant distribution in tropical or sub-tropical countries. However, natural teak available only in few countries like India, Myanmar, Laos People’s Democratic Republic and Thailand. Teak grows well in deep, well-drained alluvial soils, fairly moist, warm, tropical climate with pH ranges from 6.5-7.5. Teak is cultivated in many Asian, African and South American countries for timber production. The global teak plantations are estimated to be three million hectare with major share in India (44%) followed by Indonesia (33%). India is considered as richest genetic resources of teak with large areas of natural teak bearing forests (8.9 million ha), plantations (1.5 million ha), clonal seed orchards (1000 ha) and seed production areas (5000 ha). The studies on diversity of teak populations showed that teak is an out crossing species with major portion of diversity present within the populations. The productivity and quality of teak timber varies depending upon the site and environmental conditions. Teak wood is moderately heavy, strong and tough,straight grained, coarse textured and ring porous with specific gravity varies from 0.55 to 0.70. The sapwood is white to pale yellow in colour and clearly demarcated while heartwood is dark brown or dark golden yellow in colour. Teak is one of the most durable timbers in the world, practically, impervious to fungus and white ant attack and resistant to decay. Teak wood is used in ship and boat constructions, furnitures and aesthetic needs. Genetic improvement programmes have been undertaken in countries like Thailand, India, Malaysia and Indonesia. The programme includes provenance identification and testing, plus tree selection and clonal multiplication, establishment of seed orchards and controlled hybridization. Several aspects like phenology, reproductive biology, fruit characteristics, silvicultural practices for cultivation, pest and diseases problems, production of improved planting stock, harvesting and marketing, wood properties and future tree improvement strategy to enhance productivity have been discussed in this paper.

An ethno-medical investigation was carried out to understand the use of plants in indigenous health care practice of the Hajong tribe community in North Eastern Bangladesh. The study of ethnobotany relating to any tribe is in itself a very intricate or long-winded process. The present study was done through structured questionnaires in consultations with the tribal practitioners and has resulted in the documentation of 25 plant species belonging to 21 families including herbs (36%), shrubs (32%), trees (28%) and climber (4%) were frequently used by the Hajong tribe for curing 27 ailments. For curing ailments, the use of aboveground plant parts was higher (86.67%) than the underground plant parts (13.33%). Leaf was used in the majority of cases for medicinal preparation (13 species), followed by fruits (7 species), root/rhizome (4 species), whole plant (3 species) and besides these, seed, latex and bark were used one species each, respectively. The study thus underlines the potentials of the ethnobotanical research and the need for the documentation of indigenous healthcare knowledge pertaining to the medicinal plant utilization for the greater benefit of mankind.

Agroforestry combines agriculture and forestry technologies to create more integrated, diverse, productive, profitable, healthy and sustainable land-use systems. This study was performed in three union of Chhagalnaiya Upazila (Sub-district; administrative entity) under Feni district, Southern Bangladesh with a view to identify the tree resources, utilization pattern and economic return of major fruit and timber tree species. Information collected from a total of 45 households ranging from marginal, small, medium and large categories. Number of plant species increased with the increase of homestead area. A total of 39 plant species were recorded from the homegarden, of which 23 were fruit and 16 were timber tree species. Considerable number of vegetables was also planted under the shade of the homestead trees. The investment analysis showed that average benefit-cost ratios were greater than one, net present values were positive and internal rate of returns were more than 10%. Long term investment on horticulture and timber tree species is highly profitable if species like Swietenia mahagoni and Tectona grandis, Spondias pinnata, Syzygium cumini and Areca catechu were planted.

Forests render both a home and a livelihood for people living in and around them. To reconcile the need of local communities with conservation, the Nishorgo Support Project (NSP or Nishorgo) is supporting co-management in five protected areas of Bangladesh, including Rema-Kalenga Wildlife Sanctuary. The main focus of this study is to assess the effectiveness of alternate income generating activities (AIGAs) which is provided by the Nishorgo Support Project. It is a tool for reducing dependence on forest resources by people living in and around Rema-Kalenga Wildlife Sanctuary and also play effective role in forest conservation. This study compares the socioeconomic condition (income, living style etc.) and forest dependency before and after implementation of co-management activities in Rema-Kalenga Wildlife Sanctuary. A total of 11 villages (sampling intensity was 31%) namely Kalibari, Mongoliabari, Chokidarbari, Chonbari, kalenga, Krishnochura, Hatimara, Himalia, Rashidpur, Goramchori and Horinmara were studied. We surveyed 272 households in these villages (Incase of households survey, sampling intensity was 100%). Data analysis shows that the major income generating livelihood activities were agro farming (30%), followed by fuelwood collection (22.50%), nursery raising (12.5%), cattle rearing (10%), fisheries (7.50%) and others. Study also reveals that after being implementation of the co-management activities the average income levels of the studied villages have rises on 578 Tk/households (1US$ = 70 Taka, Taka means Bangladeshi currency). Further more, many of the illegal loggers became forest protector, which make their life more secured. It was also found that peoples of the study villages are now actively engaging in forest management activities and it is the only hope for conservation and restoration of forest resources not only in Rema-Kalenga Wildlife Sanctuary but also in other protected area’s of our country.

The present study analyses the effect of land use on the vegetation of some desert ecosystems in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE). Three sites were selected to represent different types of land use, inside Umm Al-Banadeq forest, outside the forest and along Abu Dhabi-Al Ain Trucks Road. In total, fifty-two stands were examined; including a matrix of 14 species x 52 stands. Based on species cover data, stands were classified using TWINSPAN and ordinated using DCA. Four vegetation groups were generated at level three of classification. Zygophyllum mandavillei was dominant in most vegetation groups; Heliotropium bacciferum dominated vegetation groups inhabited the forest. Species richness, species turnover, relative evenness and relative concentration of dominance of forest vegetation groups were 2.8, 5.7, 0.7, and 2.0, respectively. The differences were attributed to both natural variability and forestry-induced changes, including change in land use, drainage and ploughing and shading by trees. Vegetation group inhabited Abu Dhabi-Al Ain Trucks Road, that were dominated by Haloxylon salicornicum and Zygophyllum mandavillei have high total cover (8.8 m per m-1). Most community and vegetation attributes were significantly higher inside the forest than outside. Human interventions and environmental factors affected species diversity and abundance of these communities.

Ficus deltoidea Jack is an important and popular medicinal plant species found in the Malaysia. Plants are being collected and used based on morphology and authentication to prevent adulteration is not in practice. In this study, twenty-six accessions of F. deltoidea Jack were collected from Kelantan and Terengganu states of Peninsular Malaysia to examine their genetic similarities and differences using randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) technique. Out of 20 arbitrary primers, two primers (D-10 and D-11) were selected which produced reliable DNA polymorphism. D-10 and D-11 primers generated 138 RAPD bands ranging from 250 bp to 3000 bp. Ninety-nine of them were polymorphic loci (72%) and thirty-nine were nonpolymorphic loci (28%). A total of 56 bands with polymorphic loci were amplified with primer D-10 and analyzed by cluster analysis and UPGMA to present a dendrogram depicting the degree of genetic relationship among 26 accessions. Eight RAPD markers were sequenced to determine their identity. RAPD analysis showed the genetic diversity among 26 accessions of F. deltoidea Jack. The RAPD profile and RAPD marker sequences reported in this paper could be used in plant and/or plant material authentication. This study also suggested that RAPD can be a useful technique to study DNA polymorphism in F. deltoidea Jack.

This study is tried to investigate and analyze the changing history of Korean forest management policy and revitalization alternatives of the private forest management. Korean forest management policy could be divided by two group periods, one is the forestry policy age through afforestation and reforestation, the other is the forestry policy age through forest management. Recently, the revitalization policy for the private forest management was evaluated through the result analysis of the 4th forest basic planning age for 10 years that is gone from 1998 to 2007, but it is not sufficient for the private forest management revitalization, and has still some fundamental problems. Therefore, this study is aimed to present various kinds of plans for the private forest management revitalization during the 5th forest basic planning age that has begun since the beginning of 2008.

This study was conducted to investigate the physical properties of wood chip for fuel processing with woody biomass. Seven species are selected and processed for testing physical properties by 3-type wood chippers which are commonly used in Korea. Wood chips produced by self-propelled drum chipper and fixed type wood chipper equipped with separator were uniform in size and shape. It was shown that the bulk density of produced wood chips was decreased with increasing the wood chip layer thickness, and oak chips prepared by self-propelled drum chipper and fixed type wood chipper showed the highest bulk density.