REPORT ON A JOURNEY TO SUMATRA, THAILAND AND INDIA FOR THE DANISH/FAO FOREST TREE SEED CENTRE

January – March 1970

H. Keiding

INTRODUCTION

When the Danish/FAO Forest Tree Seed Centre at Humlebaek, Denmark was established on the 1st of December 1969 plans were made for collecting seed from India and the East Indies at the earliest date possible, which meant the first three to four months of 1970. However, it was realised that with such a short time set aside for preparation part of the trip would inevitably have to be a reconnaissance for future travel. The departure was further advanced in order to take advantage of the opportunity to join Greathouse's seed procurement trip to Sumatra, which was planned to start on January 19th, 1970. The seed was to be collected jointly by a specialist in seed collection from the seed centre (H. Keiding) and by the Thai/Danish Pine Project.

OBJECTIVES

1. Procurement of seed samples from the three main occurrences of Pinus merkusii in Sumatra, in the Atjeh, Tapanuli and Kerintji areas.

2. Instruction and agreement on provenance collection of Pinus kesiya and Pinus merkusii in Thailand.

3. Preparation for a comprehensive collection of teak by co-ordinating sampling in India, Thailand and Indonesia (Java). If at all possible Burma should be included in the scheme, as well as countries in which teak has been introduced and in which it has more or less adapted itself (West Africa, Trinidad, New Guinea).

4. Discussions on the conditions for collecting seed of Gmelina arborea, Pinus roxburghii and P. griffithii.

WORK DONE

SUMATRA

Flowering, cone crop and seed collecting practices

The standards for collecting seed used by IUFRO teams in Northwestern America were as far as possible adapted to Sumatran conditions. Some of the main obstacles in following this collection practice were:

1. the very limited knowledge of the flowering habit of Pinus merkusii and the seasonal and annual fluctuations in cone crop.
2. difficulty of access to most of the pine areas.
3. lack of proper maps.

Exploration, collection and recording will under present conditions have to be done simultaneously if seed samples are to become available within the next few years. This will naturally affect the efficiency of collection.

The fact that most areas could not be reached by car affected the handling of cones and the extraction of seed decisively. This factor may be largely responsible for the almost complete lack of viability in the 2 000 kg of seed (some sources say 4 000 – 5 000 kg) collected in 1969 by the Indonesian Forest Service.

The common practice in Sumatra is to make arrangements with the villagers in the pine areas to collect cones. In order to get as much of the crop as possible collection may start when the green cones are only beginning to turn brown. Depending on the abudance of cones the collectors are paid 100 – 300 rupees (1$ = 375 rupees) per kerosene tin of approximately 20 litres capacity. One tin holds about 550 cones and may give 100 g seed. There are no special instructions regarding the trees that should be selected for harvesting.

Climbing ability and technique limit the type of trees from which seed can be collected. No aids for climbing are used and when the trunk becomes too large for the climber to get his arms around his grip is not very secure. Furthermore, old trees often have long and heavy branches which take a long time to cut off with a parang. Thus small to medium size trees will be preferred unless climbing techniques are improved. Once a tree has been subject to cone collection it will never recover sufficiently to give another crop, as whole branches are cut off near the stem, leaving roughly pruned trees with only a small upper part of the crown. A characteristic of the cones of the Sumatran provenances is that old cones remain on the tree for several years, and in wet weather it is difficult to distinguish them from new ones. The cones are not easy to tear off and as they develop near the tip of the branch this explains to some extent the wasteful method of collection. In the continental provenances growing in northern Thailand almost all cones found on the trees are new, as the old ones are shed soon after ripening.

The Atjeh Provenance

The pines of the Atjeh provenance are almost the only source of seed for afforestation in both Java and Sumatra.

In January 1970 Keiding joined Greathouse's seed procurement expedition in Sumatra. A hired Toyota jeep with four wheel drive and low range gear was used for transport. In Kutatjane a forest officer and an interpreter joined the expedition and at Blangkedjeren four carriers and climbers plus a forest ranger were employed, making up a total of 9 persons in the group. From Blangkedjeren it was possible to continue by car only a short distance (8 km) towards the pine area. In order to reach the kampongs in the actual pine area one had to walk for anything from one to several days, which means carrying equipment, food and harvested seed either by men or horses. Although other parts of the pine area in the Atjeh province, such as the Takingeun lake, may be approached by car, seed collection teams must be prepared for walking and camping in order to get representative samples.

Blangkedjeren lies in the southern part of the Atjeh province and large, more or less separated, areas of pine may be reached in most directions. The goal of this expedition was Kampong Akol about 20 km west of Blangkedjeren. Pure pine stands can be seen on the hilly slopes all around the town. The forest is mostly open and park-like, with denser groups or patches of regeneration. The vegetation under and between the pines is low, consisting mainly of grasses and small bushes (Rhododendron sp.). Normally the seed is collected from June to November, but in 1969 the collection period was said to have lasted seven months, beginning in February. The local forest officer accompanying the team was, however, a little vague about the collection period, so the information should be seen in that light only. 50 kg of the seed collected in the Atjeharea in 1969 were purchased by the Pilot Plantation Project in Malaysia in October that year. Although many seeds were filled they seemed to have lost viability completely and the germination per cent was nil.

In 1970 the cone crop was light, as had been estimated by Greathouse on his previous visit to Sumatra in October 1969. Furthermore the maturing of the cones was not completed, nearly all cones were green and about 20 per cent were soft enough to break with the hands. Whereas in a normal seed year about 30 filled seeds per cone is common there were now on an average 8, and in several cases the embryo was still soft and milky. Collecting in February, one month later, would no doubt have given a higher percentage of mature cones. The relatively small number of filled seeds per cone probably reflects the sparse flowering, and the difficulty in finding trees with enough cones to collect from confirms this assumption. The number of cones collected per tree varied from 80 to 180, although only the richest bearing trees were climbed. 200–300 cones per tree had been expected.

When returning to the kampong the cones were spread out in the shade for after-ripening. After a couple of weeks they turned brown and a few cones started to open. They were then flown back to the Forest Research Institute at Kepong in Malaysia and were placed in an air-conditioned room.

Germination tests carried out at the University of Malaysia showed a germination per cent of 10 – 15. However, a separate sample extracted during the after-ripening had given 48 per cent. This last mentioned sample comprised only a very small number of seeds indicating that only a few cones were sufficiently mature. Germination tests at Humlebaek showed a germination per cent of 4 – 12. Results from these tests are shown in Appendix 1.

Some figures from the collection made in the Atjeh area are given below:

The Tapanuli provenance

The very bad condition of the roads in Sumatra in 1970 is illustrated by the fact that it took the expedition 10 hours of continuous driving to cover the 100 km distance from Blangkedjeren to Kutatjane. The road to the natural stands of Pinus merkusii was found to be impassable by jeep. Examination of a 1931 planting at Sipuhatar showed that the cone crop was the same as that of the Atjeh provenance both in respect to the maturity and the quantity of the cones. Conelets of different sizes as well as remnants of male catkins could be found on the same tree. The trees of the plantation visited (approximately 1 – 2 ha in extent) were fairly uniform in appearance and had the typical features of the Tapanuli provenance. Observations in other plantations or remnants of plantations in the area gave an impression of much greater variability, and trees with typical Atjeh characteristics as well as intermediate forms could be found. According to local foresters all pines outside the native reserve at Dolok Saut have been planted or are natural regeneration from planted trees. As seed material from the natural stands of the Tapanuli provenance has always been sparse the main proportion of the plant material is without doubt of Atjeh provenance. The current policy of the Indonesian Forest Service is to plant 90% Atjeh provenance and only 10% Tapanuli provenance. Only seedlings from natural regeneration of the Tapanuli provenance are used, protecting thus the mature trees against rough handling by seed collectors.

Because of the uncertainty of the origin of the stands, combined with the fact that the cone crop was poor, no cones of the Tapanuli provenance were collected during this trip. In future seed collections in Dolok Saut special attention should be paid to its status as a nature conservation area, and cone collection should be done without cutting branches.

The natural stands of the Tapanuli provenance are in fact less remote from forest stations than most of the Atjeh stands, and if the roads are improved it will be relatively easy to get the cones back to a forest station for extraction. The Tarutung forest station, west of Dolok Saut, may be reached within 3 or 4 hours by car.

The Kerintji provenance

From Tarutung in the Tapanuli district to Padang on the west coast the main trunk road, Medan-Padang, was followed. The distance is about 800 km. Although this is one of the most important roads in Sumatra the condition of it was so bad that the average speed could not exceed 40 km/hour. The expedition was informed that once in Sungeipenuh the access to the pine areas between the town of Sungeipenuh and Mount Kerintji should be relatively easy. However, these roads also proved to be in an extremely bad condition and the pine areas could not be reached. Approaching the Kerintji stands by car was at that time hazardous and different means of transport (maybe helicopter) have to be contemplated before another attempt is made.

Some factors affecting travelling and seed collection in Sumatra

a. Registering by local authorities.

In the Atjeh province it was necessary to visit the local administrator, the police and the military commander when travelling from one place to another. The registering may take a couple of hours if all three kinds of administration exist. In order to make this registration as smooth as possible it is advisable to ask the help of a local forest officer. A description of the route and the purpose of the visit will have to be presented. Outside the province of Atjeh such checks not required. If it is necessary to spend the night in a village in which no hotels or resthouses are found the head of the village, the Kepala, should be asked for permission to stay.

b. Service payment.

In addition to normal subsistence payments to cover food and lodging forest officers accompanying the seed collection team was paid around one dollar daily inducement pay.

c. Cooperation with Indonesian forest authorities and local forest personnel.

It is essential for the success of seed collection anywhere that the work done is accepted locally. An important factor influencing the attitude towards seed collection is obviously the benefit Indonesian forestry may obtain. In general the Indonesian forest service was only interested in obtaining big quantities of seed of Pinus merkusii, irrespective of origin. However, at the Forest Research Institute at Bogor it was realized that not only does Indonesia and particularly Java need large amounts of pine seed to accomplish the plantation programme, but also that the origin of the seed is of great importance. Present-day plantations of Pinus merkusii which mostly derive from the Atjeh province generally possess a poor stem form.

Comments and recommendations

A far more accurate knowledge of flowering characteristics is required, and a permanent observation unit should be placed in northern Sumatra to study the phenology of the species. (*) Such a unit or station could also help the seed collection teams in locating potential collection areas. To meet the acute shortage of Pinus merkusii seed for provenance research, proper seed collection expeditions will be required even if an observation unit is established.

Because of the poor road conditions the use of a helicopter should be seriously considered. This is particularly important for making it possible to collect the Kerintji provenance and for covering all three main localities within the same season.

Simple but efficient arrangements for after-ripening and extraction of seed at the camp should be made. Storage facilities should be secured before seed collection is started.

Improvement of climbing techniques would make it possible to collect from the larger trees. Irrespective of the size of the tree it is desirable either to pick the cones directly or to cut only the small branchlets bearing the cones, thus avoiding the destruction of future cone crops.

(*) E. Mortenson started a technical assignment on tree improvement in Indonesia in June 1971, and this will include a study on Pinus merkusii.

THAILAND

Pine

Seed collection of both Pinus kesiya and P. merkusii was in progress in Thailand during the last week of February and the first week of March. Pinus kesiya seems to mature first, at the end of January in northern Thailand. The cones of Pinus kesiya mature more uniformly than those of Pinus merkusii, and they had all turned brown when they were collected. Extraction seems relatively easy.

The planning and execution of the seed collection was made by the Thai/Danish Pine Project as part of the project's programme. Seed was collected for both Thailand and the seed centre.

Six localities of Pinus kesiya and two of P. merkusii (200–700 g of the former, 1 100 – 1 600 g of the latter) will be available for provenance testing. The relatively high germination per cent of P. merkusii (84% and approx. 50% for the two lots respectively) is remarkable taking into account the varying state of maturity of cones within and between trees in the same locality. The variation between localities is even more pronounced. This variation implies that in order to get cones at the right state of maturity collection should either be extended over a longer period or repeated.

Teak

Collection and testing of various provenances of teak in Thailand has been going on since the start of the Thai/Danish Teak Improvement Centre in 1965. Seed was collected both in 1965 and in 1968, the latter collections covering some of the same localities as those visited in 1965, but with an improved recording and description of parent stands.

Provenance trials of 49 seed samples were established in two different areas in 1966 and 1967 from the 1965 collections. The samples represent different stands, but not necessarily different eco types. The 1968 collections comprising 15 provenances were sown in 4 trials almost evenly distributed from the latitude of Bangkok in the south to near Chieng Saen in the northernmost part of Thailand. Unfortunately one of the trials had to be given up due to excessive losses of plants, but interesting possibilities of provenance/site interaction still exist.

The differences in height growth seem to become less pronounced with age and apparently variation in this character alone will not give much scope for selection. Evaluation of other characters (flowering, branching, knots, fluting, etc.) may reveal differences due to origin.

Fairly extensive material is thus available for investigations on the geographic variation of teak within the boundaries of Thailand. Various attempts to co-ordinate provenance research on a Southeast Asian regional basis were made by the Teak Sub-Commission since its establishment in 1955. The Director, Forestry Research at Dehra Dun, had been appointed organizer for this activity. The response by the participating countries has on the whole been rather disappointing and only a few trials with a limited material have been established. What the main obstacles have been is a little difficult to ascertain, but the actual collection and distribution in addition to too high demands on lay-out and replications have no doubt played an important role. With the dissolution of the Teak Sub-Commission there is an additional risk that the initiative to organize provenance research in the region may be lost. As there is an increasing interest for teak outside Southeast Asia it is felt that a new attempt should be made to organize provenance sampling and testing, widening the field to other regions. Both the Forest Department and the Teak Centre in Thailand are willing to participate in a provenance research study on an international level,/providing the samples they collect are exchanged for foreign material.

INDIA *

Conditions for seed collection, administration and procedure

Seed collection for provenance research was discussed in India and the suggested plans were positively received. Because foreign aid is involved certain formalities have to be observed. It is necessary to make an application to the Inspector General of Forests, who will require details on the purpose and extent of the proposed seed collections. From the Inspector General's office the programme is handed over to the Director of Forestry Research, Dehra Dun, who will instruct the forest administrations of the individual states how to support the work.

Conditions for seed collection and organisation of research

Provenance research is organized and administered by the Silvicultural Branch of the F.R.I. at Dehra Dun, of which the Director of Forestry Research is head. On the state level the silviculturist if responsible for both provenance collection and tree breeding. The practical execution of a provenance collection will therefore to a large extent depend on the cooperation with the state silviculturists.

Forest genetics and provenance research on teak

Breeding of teak, especially in connection with provenance testing, was the main topic of the visit to India. Breeding work has been carried out since the establishment of the Genetic Section of the F.R.I. in 1959 (later promoted “Branch”), but the breeding programme does not include studies on geographic variation. The general opinion amongst forest officers seemed to be that a large proportion of the planted teak comes from Burma, either directly (in the older plantations) or indirectly as seed from plantations of Burmese origin. It appeared that Burmese seed was preferred because of its bigger size and better germination capacity rather than for any apparent superiority of the parent trees. Further research will have to be undertaken regarding the relative performance on various sites of introduced plantation-grown teak and indigenous natural-grown teak. A systematic provenance sampling covering both indigenous and introduced teak would serve several purposes. For India itself it might clarify the justification of the widespread use of Burmese teak and the variability fundamental for selection and breeding and help to distinguish and preserve different populations, thereby creating a wider scope for planting teak on various sites. It is obvious that such inventory and sampling would also be of great interest to importers of teak seed outside the region. A common feature to countries into which teak has been introduced (West Africa, Trinidad) is the very limited seed sources, comprising often just one provenance of a few hundred trees. Although the growth may be quite satisfactory it is felt that comparison with other provenances should be made and that new gene compositions should be introduced to avoid inbreeding.

Proposals for collection procedures in teak

The individual State Forest Services should under the guidance of the State Silviculturist carry out the location and demarcation of stands. Selection of sites and stands should follow criteria given by the Silvicultural Branch at F.R.I. and by the Seed Centre. Seed collection should be carried out jointly by the Indian Forest Service and the Seed Centre, in accordance with IUFRO standards. If possible, the Genetic Branch at F.R.I. should also co-operate. A scheme for genetic improvement of selected tree species, which recently was presented by Dr. S. Kedharnath, named “All-India Centre-cum-States Co-ordinated Projects” opens up interesting prospects. Of particular interest is the proposal to employ a Forest Geneticist in each state, thus creating more continuity and attention on tree breeding research.

Seed collection of other forest tree species in India

So far no attempts have been made to investigate provenance differences in Gmelina arborea in India, although the species is said to grow under varying ecological conditions. Some preparatory work in selecting potential collection areas may be carried out in conjunction with collection of provenance samples of teak.

Seed of Pinus roxburghii is obtainable through the Director of Forestry Research. More investigations on the geographic variation of this species is highly desirable, mainly because of its potential for subtropical and higher elevation climates. It was not possible to collect Pinus griffithii in India.

Footnote. In an article published in 1970 by E.N.G. Cooling and H. Ganssen (Trav. du Lab. Forestier de Toulouse, tome I, Vol.VIII, art.VII,1970), the authors proposed to divide the previous species Pinus merkusii Jungh et de Vries into two new distinct species, namely Pinus merkusii Jungh. et de Vries (Sumatran provenances) and Pinus merkusiana sp.nov. (continental provenances) These two species differ in seed size, seedling performance (the existence of grass stage), growth habit, morphological characteristics of needles, cones, bark and wood, and in ecology.

Within the Sumatran species a variety, Pinus merkusii Jungh.et de Vries var. tapanulensis may further be distinguished.

* Since this expedition some 30 provenances of teak have been collected in India.

APPENDIX 1

Results of germination tests at the seed centre, Humlebaek on Pinus merkusii seed collected in Sumatra.

*    Method I   : Germination without pretreatment. Observation after 22 days.
-    II   : Stratification for 3 weeks, then germination for 21 days.

Remarks: The germinating seed did not appear fresh and healthy and they had a somewhat stale smell. This usually indicates poor germination in spite of a high percentage of filled seed.