JENRM, Vol. I, No. 2, 98-105, 2014ISSN: 2026-6189Research Article

Performance of terminalia superba and triplochitonscleroxylon seedlings under different forest canopySiaw, D.E.K.A.1, Owusu-Prempeh, N.1,Asare, A.2*,Duodu, C.3, Akoto, S.A.2

AbstractThis paper presents the performance of Terminalia superba and Triplochiton scleroxylon seedlings in enrichment planting indifferent forest canopy types or disturbance types (Skid trail, landing bay and undisturbed area). An area of 0.05ha (50m x10m) plot each was purposively selected and demarcated in landing bay, skid trails and undisturbed area in Asenanyo ForestReserve in the Nkawie Forest District. Complete Randomized Design (CRD) was used to lay different 50m x 10m plots ineach disturbance area. There were five replicates each of Terminalia superba and Triplochiton scleroxylon seedlings plantedat 6m by 6m planting distance in each canopy type. Soil samples were randomly collected at each of the three different forestdisturbance sites at a depth of 020 cm. The results revealed a 100% survival of Triplochiton scleroxylon whereas that ofTerminalia superba was 33%. The mean diameter for Terminalia superba seedlings across the three different forest gap typeswas 0.590.25cm whereas Triplochiton scleroxylon seedlings recorded 0.910.48cm. The height of Terminalia superbaseedlings was 42.609.43cm whiles Triplochiton scleroxylon seedlings was 71.2026.67cm. The plant condition scoreacross the different canopy types range from 0-5 for Terminalia superba and 2-5 for Triplochiton scleroxylon. The number ofleaves ranged from 0-14 for Terminalia superba and 5-15 for Triplochiton scleroxylon. The soil bulk density of the skid trailwas significantly (p

Performance of terminalia superba and triplochiton scleroxylon seedlings under different forest canopy 99/105

elata, Nauclea diderrichii, and Triplochiton scleroxylon which,mainly generate substantial revenues for Ghanas economy;have been drastically reduced over the past decades due tounsustainable agriculture, conversion to agriculture, wantonlogging, wildfires, firewood collection and charcoal production,mining, population pressure, poorly defined land and resourcetenure and external factors including market failures, interna-tional trade, and the imposition of economic programs such asthe Structural Adjustment Program[4]. However, studies haveshown that these indigenous species can be restored throughenrichment planting [5]. Enrichment planting is mostly carriedout either for commercial or silvicultural purposes [6].

In the case of Ghana, the former was why it was consid-ered. This management technique which was done through lineplanting was used in the 1940s and 1950s mainly in the Wetevergreen forest zone to improve the stocking of commerciallyvaluable species [5]. Though enrichment planting approachhas reportedly been successful in some secondary forests inthe Amazon areas [7][8], however, it failed in Ghana [9]. Thefailure was due to unfavorable results from practices such ascanopy manipulation and competition from weeds[10]. Thereis paucity of information to improve enrichment planting andreforestation of degraded forest reserves in Ghana . So it isa nerve-racking issue to study the performance of Terminaliasuperba and Triplochiton scleroxylon in skid trail, landing bayand undisturbed forest soil in Asenanyo Forest Reserve priorityenrichment planting project.

The study is aimed at investigating the performance ofTerminalia superba and Triplochiton scleroxylon seedlings inenrichment planting across different forest disturbance types.This approach would help select tree species appropriate forenrichment planting in the reserve. The specific objective ofthe study include: (a) to find out percent survival of Terminaliasuperba and Triplochiton scleroxylon seedlings under differ-ent soil disturbance types (b) to find out growth performanceof Terminalia superba and Triplochiton scleroxylon seedlingsunder different soil disturbance types (c) to compare soil bulkdensity, porosity, moisture content, and organic matter con-tent of the different disturbed areas and relate it to growthperformance of the two timber species.

1. Materials and Methods1.1 Study areaThe Asenanyo Forest Reserve lies between latitude 6o17 and6o36 north and longitudes 1o50 and 2o16west. The reserveis a continuous block which is only divided into two unequalhalves by the Kumasi- Bibian Road and is situated about 70kmfrom Kumasi. The gross area of the Asenanyo Forest Reserveis 22,792 hectares. The land is undulating over the greaterpart of the Reserve with an average height of 152-198m abovesea level. The reserve lies in two-peak rainfall belts, with themaximum during May-June and the minimum during Septem-ber October. The Asenanyo River Forest Reserve lies in the1250-1500mm isohyets zone [13]. Annual rainfall range from2005-2009 periods is 1,051-1,522mm according to Bibiani

Figure 1. Asenanyo River Forest Reserve

meteorological station. The mean monthly temperature ofthe area for the period 2005-2009 is 27.9 oC. The mean an-nual relative humidity recorded is about 84%. There are fourmain soil associations within the reserve as follows: - TheBekwai-Domenasi-Oda complex consisting of red clay loamscovering 68% of the reserve on gentle undulating terrain. TheKumasi-Domenasi-Offin complex is less extensive and occursmainly on the gentle hills and slopes, soils in this associationare usually gritty red loams. The Kobeda-Mim-Oda complexis confined to the Sumtwitwi Range and consists of soils whichare skeletal in nature. The Birim-Chich where compound isusually associated with recent or old alluvia. It covers smallareas on river terraces and flood plains and is relatively rare[11]. The Asenanyo reserve was classified as belonging tothe Celtis- Triplochiton association [12], and lies within MoistSemi-deciduous North-West subtype (MSNW)[13]. The areaof the Asenanyo Forest Reserve to the north of the AsenanyoRiver however, falls into the South-East subtype (MSSE) ofthis zone [14]. Floristically, the area is rich containing 335species. Forest tree families commonly occurring in the reserveinclude: Moraceae, Sterculiaceae, Ulmaceae, Rubiaaceae,Bombaceae and Combraceae. Generally, floristic diversity andlife-form categories in the reserve include large trees capa-ble of exceeding 30m in height (megaphanerophyte), smalltrees, large climbers, small understorey climber, shrubs, herbs,pteridophytes and epiphytes. Table 1 shows the descriptionof the scores on the state of the planted seedlings during theassessment.

Performance of terminalia superba and triplochiton scleroxylon seedlings under different forest canopy 100/105

Table 1. Description of the score on the state of the plantedseedlings during assessment

Ranking Scale Description of seedlings Condition

0 Dead1 No leaf but not dead2 With leaves but warped, wrinkled

and brownish coloration3 With leaves, no warping, no wrin-

kles, but showing brownish col-oration

4 Healthy green leaves but 30% reduc-tion in number of leaves

5 Full complement of green healthyleaves

1.2 Experimental design and Data collectionAn area of 0.05ha (50m 10m) plot each was purposivelyselected and demarcated inlanding bay, skid trails and undis-turbed area in the reserve. Two different 50m 10m plotswere laid in each disturbance area. Complete Randomized De-sign (CRD) was used in this experiment. Terminalia superbaand Triplochiton scleroxylon were the experimental materialsselected for the enrichment planting experimental trial. Therewere five replicates each of Terminalia superba and Triplo-chiton scleroxylon seedlings planted at 6m by 6m plantingdistance in the three different forest disturbance types. Theresponse variables in this research were: the mean diameter ofseedlings, seedlings stumps height, number of leaves and de-scription of seedling conditions. Soil samples were randomlycollected from the three different forest disturbance sites withsoil auger at 020cm depths. There were 10 replicates of soilsamples from each plot (50m 10m) for bulk density, mois-ture content, porosity and percentage organic matter contentdetermination across the three different disturbance types.

One-way ANOVA was conducted to compare mean diam-eter, mean height, and mean number of leaves of Terminaliasuperba and Triplochiton scleroxylon plant seedlings acrossthe three different soil disturbance types at = 5% level ofsignificance. Soil porosity, bulk density, moisture content, per-centage organic matter content were also compared across thedifferent canopy and soil disturbance types at = 5% levelof significance. Fishers LSD multiple comparisons tests wasperformed in situations where there was significant differenceamong the three different soil disturbance types.

2. Results2.1 Effect of different forest soil disturbance types

on seedling diameter, number of leaves, seedlingcondition and seedling height growth of Termi-nalia superba

From table 2, the Terminalia superba seedlings under skidtrail canopy had seedling conditionof 1.602.07 (i.e. with

leaves but warped, wrinkled and showing brownish coloration),landing bay was 0.400.55 (i.e. no leaf but not dead) andthe mean rank in the undisturbed forest canopy was zero (i.e.dead) during the survival survey (table 2). There was no sig-nificant difference (p> 0.05) in the condition of Terminaliasuperba seedlings under the different forest soil disturbancetypes. In comparing the three canopy types, the skid trailcanopy showed the highest number of leaves with an aver-age of 3.405.98 compared to the landing bay forest canopy,which had 1.21.79 leaves on average. All the Terminaliasuperba seedlings under the undisturbed forest canopy weredead. There was no significant differences in the number ofleaves across the three different forest soil disturbance types,p>0.05.

The diameter of Terminalia superba seedlings in the skidtrail forest canopy was 0.600.22cm, undisturbed forest canopywas 0.600.22cm and landing bay was 0.580.35cm. Nosignificant differences (p>0.05) was found among the diam-eter growth across the treatments. The undisturbed forestcanopy showed the highest height growth of Terminalia su-perba seedlings with an average of 48.605.13cm followed bylanding bay, 41.808.79cm and the least mean height recordedis 37.4011.33cm in the skid trail soil. But no significantdifferences was found among the average height growth per-formance across the treatments, p>0.05.

Performance of terminalia superba and triplochiton scleroxylon seedlings under different forest canopy 101/105

Table2.

One

-way

AN

OVA

ofsa

plin

gco

nditi

on,n

umbe

rofl

eave

s,se

edlin

gsdi

amet

er,s

eedl

ing

heig

htan

dpe

rcen

tsur

viva

lofT

erminaliasuperba

unde

rthr

eedi

ffer

ent

fore

stso

ildi

stur

banc

ety

pes

and

fore

stca

nopy

type

sin

Ase

nany

oFo

rest

Res

erve

Term

inaliasuperba

Trea

tmen

tA

vera

gera

nkof

seed

ling

cond

ition

Num

bero

flea

ves

Seed

ling

diam

eter

(cm

)Se

edlin

ghe

ight

(cm

)

Skid

trai

lM

ean

1.602

.07

3.405

.98

0.600

.22

37.4

011

.33

Ran

ge0.

00-5

.00

0.00

-14.

000.

50-1

.00

25.0

0-52

.00

Und

istu

rbed

fore

stM

ean

0.00

0.00

0.600

.22

48.6

05.

13R

ange

0.00

0.00

0.50

-1.0

045

.00-

57.0

0L

andi

ngba

yM

ean

0.400

.55

1.201

.79

0.580

.35

41.8

08.

79R

ange

0.00

-1.0

00.

00-4

.00

0.08

-1.0

030

.00-

50.0

0To

tal

Mea

n0.

671

.35

1.533

.64

0.590

.25

42.6

09.

43R

ange

0.00

-5.0

00.

00-1

4.00

0.08

-1.0

025

.00-

57.0

0P-

valu

e0.

400

.55

1.201

.79

0.580

.35

41.8

08.

79V

alue

sw

ithsi

mila

rlet

ter(

s)w

ithin

aco

lum

nar

eno

tsig

nific

antly

diff

eren

tat

=5%

(0.0

5)by

Fish

ers

LSD

mul

tiple

com

pari

son

test

s.

2.2 Effect of different soil disturbance types on seedlingdiameter, number of leaves, seedling conditionand seedling height growth of Triplochiton scle-roxylon

Table 3 shows the observations that were made on Triplochitonscleroxylon seedlings under the different forest soil disturbancetypes studied. The highest plant condition rank of 4.40 0.89was recorded for skid trails, followed by undisturbed forest,3.800.45 and the least was recorded in the landing bay for-est canopy as 3.000.7. There was significant differencesacross the treatments at p0.05.The diameter of Triplochitonscleroxylon seedlings in the skid trail was 0.840.48cm, undis-turbed was 0.840.48cm and landing bay was 1.060.56cm.However, no significant differences was found among thediameter growth across the different forest soil disturbancetypes, p>0.05. The landing bay forest canopy showed theleast height growth of Triplochiton scleroxylon seedlings of69.6031.26cm. The mean height growth under skid trailcanopy was 72.0027.46cm and undisturbed forest canopywas 72.00 27.46cm. However, no significant differencesp0.05.

Performance of terminalia superba and triplochiton scleroxylon seedlings under different forest canopy 102/105

Table3.

One

-way

AN

OVA

ofse

edlin

gco

nditi

on,n

umbe

rofl

eave

s,se

edlin

gdi

amet

er,s

eedl

ing

heig

htan

dpe

rcen

tsur

viva

lofT

riplochitonscleroxylon

unde

rthr

eedi

ffer

ents

oild

istu

rban

cety

pes

and

fore

stca

nopy

type

sin

Ase

nany

oFo

rest

Res

erve

{Tri

ploc

hito

n}{s

cler

oxyl

on}

Trea

tmen

tA

vera

gera

nkof

seed

ling

cond

ition

Num

bero

flea

ves

Seed

ling

diam

eter

(cm

)Se

edlin

ghe

ight

(cm

)

Skid

trai

lM

ean

4.400

.89

8.004

.06

0.840

.48

72.3

023

.48

aa

aa

Ran

ge3.

00-5

.00

5.00

-15.

000.

50-1

.50

50.0

0-11

8.00

Und

istu

rbed

fore

stM

ean

3.800

.45

10.2

01.

480.

840

.48

72.0

027

.46

aba

aa

Ran

ge3.

00-4

.00

8.00

-12.

000.

50-1

.50

50.0

0-11

8.00

Lan

ding

bay

Mea

n3.

000

.71

8.202

.49

1.060

.56

69.6

031

.26

ba

aa

Ran

ge2.

00-4

.00

6.00

-12.

000.

50-2

.00

30.0

0-11

7.00

Tota

lM

ean

3.730

.88

8.802

.86

0.910

.48

71.2

026

.67

2.00

-5.0

05.

00-1

5.00

0.50

-2.0

030

.00-

118.

00P-

valu

e0.

027

0.43

60.

737

0.98

8

2.3 Effect of different forest soil disturbance typeson percent survival of Triplochiton scleroxylonand Terminalia superba seedlings

Generally, in comparing the survival of Terminalia superba andTriplochiton scleroxylon seedlings under the different forestdisturbance types, it was observed that the Triplochiton scle-roxylon seedlings thrived better than the Terminalia superbaseedlings. The percent survival of Triplochiton scleroxylonseedlings planted was 100% (i.e. all the seedlings under thedifferent canopy types survived) and the survival percent ofTerminalia superba seedlings recorded during the enrichmentplanting survival survey was 33% (Figure 2).

Comparison of soil bulk density under different forest soildisturbance typesThe result showed significant differences (p

Performance of terminalia superba and triplochiton scleroxylon seedlings under different forest canopy 103/105

Figure 2. Survival of free seedlings planted on different soildisturbance and forest canopy gaps in Asamanyo Frorestreserve

Figure 3. soil bulk density under different soil disturbancetype in Asamanyo Frorest reserve

as 1.900.46 (Figure 6). The organic matter levels across thedifferent canopy types were significantly different, p

Performance of terminalia superba and triplochiton scleroxylon seedlings under different forest canopy 104/105

compared to the control. The soil bulk density of the land-ing bay soil was also significantly higher (p

Performance of terminalia superba and triplochiton scleroxylon seedlings under different forest canopy 105/105

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[17] FROEHLICH, H. A. (1979).The effect of compaction bylogging on forest productivity.Final report contact 53500 CT4 5(N). Bureau of Land Management, Portland, Oreg.

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IntroductionMaterials and MethodsStudy areaExperimental design and Data collection

ResultsEffect of different forest soil disturbance types on seedling diameter, number of leaves, seedling condition and seedling height growth of Terminalia superbaEffect of different soil disturbance types on seedling diameter, number of leaves, seedling condition and seedling height growth of Triplochiton scleroxylonEffect of different forest soil disturbance types on percent survival of Triplochiton scleroxylon and Terminalia superba seedlings

DiscussionConclusionAcknowledgmentsReferences