Abstract:
Forests in Thailand are fast disappearing, especially, in northeastern Thailand where localpeople are commonly subsistence farmers, and thus often supplement their incomes byusing and selling forest products. One such product, Castanopsis indica (Roxb.) A. DC. isused as a substrate for mushroom cultivation. Because this tree could be potentially overexploited,research was conducted in the field and the nursery in order to optimize methodsof cultivation for sustainable use. Experiments were divided into 2 parts which focused on1) the effects of environmental factors (light intensity, vegetation cover and seed predation)on seed germination and seedling establishment of Castanopsis indica under natural orsemi-natural forest conditions, and 2) the effects of light intensity on the growth rate andsurvival of Castanopsis indica seedlings transferred from the nursery to more controlledfield conditions. The study was conducted in Naheao National Park and nearby communityforests (Huay Nam Pak, Bor Muang Noi) in amphur Naheao, Loei province. For the studyof seed germination and seedling establishment in the field, seeds were placed in plots, 1.5x 1.5 m2 under different levels of canopy and vegetation cover. Two thirds of the seedswere also placed in wire cages in order to protect them from predators. For the second part,seedlings were transferred from the nursery into different light conditions in the field, fullsun (100% of full sun), and partial shade (50 % of full sun) and compared with naturallydispersed seedlings growing under the heavy shade of a full forest canopy (5 % of full sun).The results suggested that the overall germination was approximately 1.3 % for the 1,440seeds sown after 20 days. The seed germination without wire cages was 6.5 % in theNational Park and 0 % in the community forests. In the National Park, the percentage ofseed germination was significantly higher when the ground vegetation cover was higher butcanopy cover had little effect on seed germination. Most of the seed mortality was causedby small mammals and seeds in the community forests had a higher percentage of predationthan in the National Park. The main effect on seedling establishment was fire started bylocal people, which killed 99.2 % of the established seedlings.For the seedlings transferred to the field, seedlings in the full sun treatment hadsignificantly better vertical, radial and leaf area growth when compared with to partialshade and heavy shade treatments. Although the seedlings in the heavy shade had a higher(but not significantly so) survival (prior to burning) than the other treatments, 84%, versus73.3% for the full sun and 80 % for the partial shade treatments, the relative performanceindex was highest in the full sun for vertical growth, radial growth, and leaf area growth.The main source of mortality for these seedlings was also fire. Fire accounted for a largepercentage of total mortality, particularly in the heavy shade site. Six months after burning,100 % of seedlings failed to re-sprout in the heavy shade but in the full sun 66.7 % and inthe partial shade 32.3% of seedlings had nearly the same vertical, radial, and total leaf areagrowth as the seedlings that did not burn.Castanopsis indica appears to grow best under high light conditions, although there may bean increased risk of mortality during very dry years in high - light areas. In summary,C. indica can be cultivated quite easily in community forests however local people mustimprove their methods of fire management in order to sustainably manage this species.