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Asian Journal of Agriculture and Development (AJAD) - Call for papers!

Effects of Combined VA-mycorrhizal Inoculation Host Plants and Phosphorus Fertilizers on the Growth of Sandalwood (Santalum Album Linn.) Seedlings in Two Indonesian Soils

(Indonesia), Doctor of Philosophy in Forestry (University of the Philippines Los Baños)

Dissertation Abstract:

 

Seedlings of sandalwood, a native species in the province of Nusa Tenggara Timor, Indonesia, were grown under screenhouse condition for six months. The effects of two types of soil, VA-mycorrhiza (Gigaspora margarita and Glomus etunicatum) inoculation, two host plants (Capsicum.frustescen and Terminalia microcarpa), and two levels of phosphorus fertilizer on seedl ing growth were studied. The parameters were height, diameter, haustoria number, dry weight, shoot/root (S/R) ratio, total dry matter weight, and phosphorus content.

Wanagama soil generally gave better height growth than Pardiyan soil. Sandalwood seed ling grew best in Wanagama soil which is acidic, had high clay and base content, and low phosphorus compared with Pardiyan soil. The c lay nature of Wanagama soil favored more water holding capacities and nutrient supply compared with Pardiyan soil, which was sandy. Between the two inoculations, G. margarita had better growth enhancing properties than the phosphorus content of sandalwood seedlin g. However. with low phosphorus, inoculation did not significantly affect height, diameter, and dry matter yield of sandalwood.

After five months, the highest growth of sandalwood with host plant C. frutescens planted in Wanagama soil was 52.1 em while with host plant T. microcarpa, it was 38.9 cm. The lowest was 18.0 cm with no host plant planted in Pardiyan soil. The study showed that the best combination of S1B0H1F1 produced the highest growth (66.4 cm) while the lowest ( 14.9) em was produced by combination S282H0F0.

In terms of diameter growth, the largest was from the combination of S1B1H1F1 (8.7 mm) and the smallest (2.7 mm) was noted from S2B2H0F0 in April 1994, six months after planting.

The interaction effect of the treatment was significant on haustoria number, total dry matter weight, S/R ratio, and phosphorus content.

In terms of interaction effect of treatment on haustoria number, the highest value (322.0) was observed in S2B0H1F2, while the lowest (0) was prod uced by several treatments, namely: S1B2H0F0, S1B0H0F1, S1B1H0F2, S2B1H0F0, S2B2H0F0, S2B2H2F0, and S2B1H0F1.

In interaction effect of treatment on total dry matter weight, S2B2H1F2 had the highest value (47.7 g) while the lowest (0.22 g) was produced by S1B2H0F0.

In terms of interaction effect of treatment on phosphorus content, the highest result (37.5 ppm) was found in S1B0H2F0, while the lowest (0 ppm) was produced by several combinations, namely: S1B0H0F0, S1B1H0F0, S1B2H0F0, S2B0H0F0, and S2B1H2F0.