Variation in coppice-shoot growth among provenances of Calycophyllum spruceanum Benth in the Peruvian Amazon Basin

The domestication of indigenous tree species for use in agroforestry systems is a high priority for rural development programs in the Amazon Basin of Peru. Such efforts require knowledge of the response of these species to silvicultural practices and intra-specific variation in the response. To provide some of this information, we investigated variation in coppice-shoot growth among seven provenances of Calycophyllum spruceanum, tested in three altitudinal zones in a watershed in the western Amazon of Peru. The three zones differ in soil fertility and rainfall.Stump diameter at 32 months was significantly greater in the zone with the most fertile soils and highest rainfall, but coppice-shoot growth was not affected directly by zones. Stump diameter was positively correlated with the height of the dominant coppice shoot after 6, 8 and 10 months of growth, probably because stump diameter reflected the size of the residual root system and thus the supply of carbohydrates, nutrients and water to the developing coppice shoots. Stump diameter may be a useful indicator of when to schedule a coppice cut for this species. There were significant differences in coppice-shoot height and number of new coppice shoots among some provenances. This suggests that there is genetic variability in the degree to which the presence or absence of a vigorous, dominant coppice shoot affects the formation of additional coppice shoots. However, there was no clinal relationship between the latitude or longitude of the provenances and coppice-shoot growth. The lack of clinal variation may be due to the relatively uniform environment of this equatorial region and the small area from which the provenances were sampled.

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DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2004.04.009

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