From 1966 up to 1990 the Forest Department has raised a massive plantation of 125,000 hectares with Sonneratia apetala and Avicennia officinalis. However, due to rapid rise in ground level some areas in the coastal belt are now unsuitable for mangrove plantations. The Forest Department, therefore, tried some mcsophytic species in such areas. Seven non­ mangrove namely, Acacia nilotica, Albizia procera, Albizia lebbek, Pongatnia pinnata, Casuarina equisetifolia, Samanea saman and Hibiscus populanaeous were observed to exist in the mangrove areas.

Eucalyptus camaldulensis Dchnh. of Pctford provenance is being planted fairly widely on a commercial basis for fuclwood and other purposes in Bangladesh. In November, 1989, a disease on eucalyptus plantations was recorded at Cox’s Bazar, Kcochia and Sylhct. In July, 1990, the same disease was recorded in Sylhet and Dinajpur. Similar type of symptom of the disease was observed in all the plantations.
Among the twelve sites, the most affected plantations were at Khadimnagar and Meherghona where trees showing disease symptoms and cankers were 90% and 50% respectively. The least affected areas were Satchari and Rashidpur where 5% of the trees showed disease symptoms and cankers were formed on 2% of the trees (Table 1).

A study on chemical analysis and water repellency property of ten village wood species was conducted to find out the percentages of their chemical components. It was found that raintrec (Samanea saman) possessed the highest amount of water soluble extractives. It was followed by babla (Acacia nilotica sub. indica), mango (tnangifera indica) and painya mandar (Erythrina ovalifolia). Nccm (Azadirachta indica) and jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus) contained the least amount of this kind of extractives. Alcohol-bcnzcne soluble extractives of the species fell in the range of 1.38- 6.60%. The holocellulose content was the highest in tentul (Tamarindus indica). Chora nccm (Melia azadarach) ranked the next in this respect, in consideration to the cellulose content, tentul, ghora nccm, sissoo (Dalbergia sissoo), mango and babla may be suitable for chemical pulping and conversion products.

These ten species were explored for water repellency test. Neem was found to absorb the least amount of water. In order of gradation on this aspect sissoo, babla and tentul were found to absorb slightly more water. These species may be suitable both for indoor and outdoor uses. Sorption of water in the remaining six species is considerably higher and consequently they arc deemed not suitable for outdoor uses.

The gross features and minute anatomy of rubber wood (Hevea brasiliensis (HBK.) Mucll. Arg.) have been studied in details. The probable uses of the wood have been described on the basis of the anatomical features.

During 1981-83, 12 to 16 years old jack fruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus L.) trees grown in Chittagong University campus were severely affected with brown leaf spots. Nigrospora sphaerica (Sacc.) Mason and Pestalotiopsis Versicolor (Sperg.) Steyaert were found to be associated with the disease (Herb. IMI No. 266275) and the pathogens are a new record for the plant. As these fungi have not been reported on jack fruit tree in Bangladesh, a study was made to determine their pathogenicity with jack fruit plant. The disease samples were collected and the symptoms of the disease were recorded carefully. The most characteristic symptoms of the disease appeared in the months of December, January and February. At first brown yellow coloured spots of 0.5-10mm. appeared on infected leaf and then the spots gradually coalesced and became larger to attain a size upto 11.0 cm.

Teak (Tectona grandis) is indigenous to India, Burma, Thailand, Indonesia and many other islands in the Far East (Bakshi 1976). The species has been widely planted in this country. A large number of teak seedlings are being raised every year. From the Forest Range Nurseries of Khaskhali, Bakkhali, Chunati and Idgah, death of 3 months’ old seedlings were reported to the Bangladesh Forest Research Institute. In the nurseries of Bakkhali and Khaskhali, the percentage of mortality of teak seedlings was about 35 and 80 respectively. Khaskhali was the worst affected of all the reported nurseries. In Napithkhali, wilting killed 50% of the seedlings raised in 18 beds. The lower leaves died first and then the upper ones followed. Information of this disease also came from Ultachari in 1985, Taktanala in 1986 and Farua in 1988.

The Two-way (Metric) Volume Table of telya garjan (Dipterocarpus turbinatus) for plantation forest published from the Bangladesh Forest Research Institute, Chittagong was reported to give higher estimate than the actual volume. A test of validity was, therefore, made for the table and also for some other existing volume functions of the species. It was found that the volume function of the table in metric units was incorrect and as such an appropriate function has been developed. An alternative volume function has also been proposed in the paper. Volume functions developed by other authors for this species have been found unbiased.

In this paper the general pith behaviour including the lacunae formation in the hollow culm internode and development of string like processes from nodal partition walls in Dendrocalamus giganteus Munro have been discussed. The young shoot in D. giganteus is solid, conical and covered with imbricating sheaths. It consists of solid massive tissue which ultimately develops into hollow internode with transverse partition wall without any outgrowth. The young shoot in solid state appears as dark coloured cross bars separated by light coloured parenchymatous tissue. The dark coloured zones become the nodal partition walls. The lacuna’ develops through disintegration of coloured zones.

The string like process that develops from the nodal partition wall is an abnormal behaviour of the pith. It consists of vascular bundles and parenchymatous tissue. The vascular bundles are of type III of Grosser and Liese (1971).

Variations of different provenances of mangium (Acacia tnangium Willd.) in survival and resistance to pests and diseases under Ilocos Norte, Masbate and Bukidnon conditions of the Philippines were studied. The survival at one and a half years and the resistance to pests and diseases at five years after planting were determined. The results show highly significant variations in per cent survival among provenances under Masbate and Bukidnon conditions and in resistance to pests and diseases under Ilocos Norte and Bukidnon conditions.

The survival was the highest in the provenances 13622 (Sidci, Indonesia) in Masbate and 13232 (Cowley Beach Road, Qld) in Bukidnon. The best provenances resistant to pests and diseases were 13229 (Claudie River, Qld) in Ilocos Norte and 13236 (Kurrimine, Qld) in Bukidnon.

Morphological characteristics of the fruits and seeds, seed germination and seedling survival rate of seven albizias were studied in the nursery. The fruit size and weight were the highest in A. lebbek and the highest number of seeds per fruits was found in A. falcataria. The rate of untreated seed germination was tried in the seed tray, poly bag and seed bod. The highest germination was found in A. procera (76 – 85%) in all conditions and in A. falcataria (85%) only in the seed tray. The germination rate of A. lebbek was very poor in all the conditions. The germination period had no effect on the percentage of germination.

The germinated seedlings in the seed tray and seed bed showed cent percent survival after 7 days transplanting into the poly bags in the shade and the survivality was 85 to 98% in the open sun after 30 days. No significant difference in survival was observed between the seedlings transplanted from the seed tray and seed bed.