Performance of some Australasian Acacias 3.5 years after planting at Makoka, Malawi.

. Fifteen species and provenances of Australasian acacias selected by matching the climate of the planting site in Malawi and seed collection sites in Australia and Papua New Guinea were grown for 3.5 y at Makoka, Malawi. The climate at Makoka is sub-humid, with aunimodal rainfall regime (November-April) and annual total rainfall range between850 and 1200 mm. The three provenances of Acacia auriculiformis tested were clearlysuperior to the rest of the species in growth and biomass production, producing atotal biomass of 46-54t ha'1 dry wt in 3.5 y. Other fast-growing species included Acacia glaucocarpa, (28.5tha°), A. neriifolia, (26.4t ha"1),.A. holosericea(25.3 tha"1) andA. aulacocarpa (21.81 ha'1). The rest of the species grew poorly with below average production when compared to fast-growing multi-purpose trees (MPTs) in SouthernAfrica. The selection of. A. auriculiformis, A. holosericea, A. aulacocarpa, A. glaucocarpa,A. neriifolia, A. crassicarpa and A. difficilis by climatic matching of seed sources and the planting site out-performed previous provenances tested at Makoka while in the other species it was not very successful. The use of this model for germplasmaquisition together with characterising the species special site requirements like obligate symbionts is recommended.

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