Survival, growth and wood properties of eucalyptus urophylla provenances in southern highlands, Tanzania
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Date
2024-05
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Sokoine University of Agriculture
Abstract
In Tanzania, commercial forestry is a developing industry that plays
a key role in many important development areas, such as
construction and rural electrification, it‟s also one of the strategies
required to reduce the loss of natural forests and mitigating the
increasing shortage of wood supply. Eucalyptus urophylla has been
preferred as important forest plantation species for wood production
and it‟s among the most common Eucalyptus species planted in
Tanzania for commercial purposes. However, there is lack of reliable
sources and diversity of the materials in the country.
Tree improvement activities, like provenance testing, are essential to
ensuring high-quality timber trees by identifying the best sources of
a species for a given area in order to increase survival and
productivity. This information is required to assist in formulating the
efficient operation of a breeding programme through which the
quality and productivity of plantations may be improved. The use of
important economic traits during selection of the best provenances
has the potential to provide valuable inputs for commercial forestry
industry and conservation of breeding materials.
This study aimed at evaluating the variation within the species and
to determine the best seed sources for planting in the Southern
Highlands of Tanzania. Specifically, the study tested the variation
found in the established trial for certain economically important traits
such as survival, growth, wood basic density and stem quality. From
this, the study aimed to determine provenance differences between
these traits. This information will be used as basis for selection of
best performing provenances for future plantation establishment and
genetic conservation efforts.
The study‟s results showed significant differences (p > 0.05) in
survival, DBH, Ht, Vol, BA, and MAI, the average values for these
parameters were 90.6 %, 22.54 cm, 30.7 m, 264.85 m3ha-1, 7.61 m2ha-1, and 19.16 m3ha-1yr-1 respectively. The study identified
superior-performing provenances, including provenance 40, 59, 60,
61 and 62, where majority originating from Wetar island.
Furthermore, the results revealed significant variation in stem
straightness among provenances with the average score of 5.0.
Provenances 40, 60 and 59 had trees with superior straightness. In
addition, substantial variations in BD were observed among the
provenances. The average basic density was 548.31 kg/m3, with
mean ranging 509.24 kg/m3 to 586.31 kg/m3. Based on the findings
the study recommends planting provenances 40, 59, 60, 61 and 62
in large scale at Southern highlands of Tanzania and in areas with
similar climate and soil conditions.
The methodology and findings of this study can be used as a basis
for developing and selecting superior provenances and progenies to
improve productivity, for plantation establishment and sustainable
utilization of its wood resources. Future studies and breeding efforts
should be done on other important traits such as pulp yield, drought
tolerance and resistance to pests and diseases. Additionally, this
trial can be used for conservation of forest genetic resources by
preserving the genetic diversity of the species in the country.
Description
MSc Dissertation
Keywords
Survival, Growth, Wood Properties, Eucalyptus urophylla Provenances, Southern Highlands, Tanzania