8342937085

GROWTł I. NODE DEYELOPM ENT AND ESTIMATED Y1ELD OF (Al A MUS MANAN

increase instem length. On the lowerslope where the conditions were morefavourable, there wasan increase ofalmosi 4 limes. It wasobserved thal the growth ratę increased considerably when rattans were able to obtain support from rubber branches and twigs. Vigorous growth occurred when the younger Ieavesof manau were halfway in the rubber canopy.

In the thirdyear ,all the manau seedlings were below 1.52 m. In the 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th year, tho-se plants below 1.5 m were 71.8%, 60.5%, 23.5% and 11.4% respectively. The percentage distribu-lion of surviving plants according to stem length classes is shown in Table 3.

TABLE3

The percentage distribution ofstem length classes for rotan manau in a rubber plantation

Stem Length Classes(m)	4.8	Age (years) 5.5 7.2		8.2
<1.50	71.8	60.5	23.5	11.4
1.51-3.00	20.0	23.5	7.5	7.6
3.01 -6.00	8.2	13.6	15.0	12.3
6.01 -9.00	—	2.4	15.0	11.4
9.01-12.00	—	—	17.9	13.3
12.01-15.00	—	—	15.0	17.1
15.01-18.00	—	—	4.7	17.1
18.01-21.00	—	—	0.9	6.6
>21.01	—	—	—	0.9

Nocie I )n>elofmen I

Asobservationson the numberof nodeswascarried out only in the last two census, no conclusions could be drawn on node production during the earlystagesofdevelopment. The average number of nodes produced at age 7.2 and 8.2 was 40.1 /year (rangę: 7 to 91) and 55.1/year (rangę: 11 to 109), respectively. This gives an average of 5.57 nodes and 6.72 nodes produced over the iwo yearsof data recording, indicating that the ratę of leaves produced increases with time.

The total stem length of manau could be de-termined fordifTerent age periodsusingregression technicjue. The regression equationsare as follows:

Age 7.2 years:

Y= -1.644930 + 0.2129709 * X (R* 0.9840) Age 8.2 years:

Y = -l.680985 + 0.2125395 * X (R = 0.9853)

(Notę: Y= Stem Length (m) ; X = No. of Internodes;

R= correlation coefficient)

There was a strong positive correlation between stem length and the number of internodes in both ages. ByusingT-test ascomparison, no significant difFerences wereobserved between the correlations at ages 7.2 and 8.2 years. The data of stem length and number of internodes for the different ages were combined and the following ecjuation was derived:

Both ages:

Y= -1.648476 + 0.2124169 * X (R = 0.9859)

Notę:

This ecjuation can be used to determine the stem length of manau. I Iowever, the valuesfor the first ten internodes close to the base are not realiable and should not be used. During the initial growth of manau or rattan generally, leavesare produced at a closer distance, and the hasał internodes are thusshorter.

The mean stem diameter at 10 cm, 20 cm, 30 cm and 100cm from the rootcollarwere 34.7 mm, 28.0 mm, 24.7 mm and 22.9 mm. respectively. No linear relationship wasobserved between diameter and stem lengths. Only 40 plants were used in the analysis. Further imestigation with morę plants should be carried out to determine the correlation between these parameters. If the growth of manau in terms ofstem length could be determined by stem diameter, plantsof superiorgenotype can be easily determined.

Estimated Yield

The mean length ofdried parts at age 7.2 and 8.2 years was 3.35m (rangę: 0.78 m - 7.70 m ) and 4.59 m (rangę: 0.60 m - 13.30 m). The length ofdried parts isconsidered maturę and isusable in furniture making. However, from preliminaryanalysis, it was learnt that the part above this length can also be used (Abdul Latif Mohmod pers.comm). Research on the length ofusable parts isstill beingconducted at FRIM. In practice, rattan cóllectorsonly collect caneswhich have “hard ’ outer skin (epidermis), irrespective ofwhether their leaf sheaths are dried or still green.

Uncollected parts have epidermis ofwhitish or lighter creamy yellow that could easily be peeled off or cut through by a knife. A study by Nur Supardiand Wan Ra/ali Mohd (1989) showed that matured part of manau could be determined by the equation Y= -1.12567 + 0.4239466 * X2 or Y = -1.439984 + 0.08904229 * X (where Y= estimated length of matured cane in meters: X1 = total length of rattan in meters; and X2 = the number ofinter-

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PERTANIKA VOL. 14 NO.l, 1991