Management of agarwood plantations” and “Propagation”

Improving seed viability (and availability)

To improve seed viability, seeds can be stored in a refrigerator for 2 months. (Normally seeds start to lose their germination capacity within one week.)

Species	Storage temperature	Germination rate after 2 months
A. malaccensis	10-12°C	80%
A. crassna	10-20°C	55-60%

 

 

Nursery

Problem with roots: they are too big and not easy to transport. It might help to give less P as fertilizer in nursery, as P stimulates root growth. But then the better the roots, the better the seedling.....

Genetic resource base and conservation / economic and environmental sustainability

Genetic resource base is rapidly diminishing in Cambodia , India , Papua New Guinea and Vietnam and needs to be preserved. Hopefully plantations will contribute to the sustainable use and management of agarwood trees. But this is hard to ascertain, as plantations could also increase the demand for wild agarwood. The future will tell.

 

Table 1.1:   Management practices in different regions

MANAGEMENT PRACTICE	ASSAM	PAPUA NEW GUINEA	VIETNAM	CAMBODIA
Age	15 years
Species	Aquilaria malaccensis
Treatment	5-6 years
Plantation	big & commercial		many plantations in State Forest Enterprises throughout Vietnam	no plantations
	home gardens	some domestication in home gardens	some domestication in home gardens
	intercropped with aromatic herbs
Ownership	commercial companies	individual forest owners	state forest enterprises	in the future plantations run by farmers
	individual home gardens managed by farmers	"no man's land" sources	individual: in home gardens & allocated forest
Wild sources	none left	almost exclusive source	some left	still available
Control			Aquilaria crassna protected by law	no control

 

Table 1.2: Ecological Characteristics for best quality agarwood producing trees in the wild (based on impressions of group members)

Altitudes	Better quality of agarwood at high altitudes, but trees also grow at lower altitudes In PNG Gyrinops is also found in swamp areas
Slope	Better quality of agarwood in steep areas up to 45 degrees
Soil	Better quality of agarwood s on bad / poor soils, stony and deep, low fertility
Rainfall	Better quality of agarwood when rainfall is high   (more than 1800 mm per year)
Temperature	Better quality of agarwood if trees grow at low temperatures 20-25°C
Humidity	Better quality of agarwood when the humidity is high

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