Sissoo (Dalbergia sissoo Roxb.) is a large deciduous tree which is planted throughout Bangladesh for its valuable timber. It grows well on alluvial soil, but it does not grow healthy in the soils of heavy texture (Bakshi 1976). The species can tolerate high soil moisture under well-drained conditions, but it can not withstand water-logging even for a short period (Street 1962). On the other hand, it can tolerate a long dry period. At Homna in Comilla, a road was newly constructed which was water-logged for a long time because of prolonged rainfall. The roadside strip plantations of D. sissoo, Swietenia macrophylla, Albizia procera, Cassia siamea, Acacia auriculiformis and Tertninalia arjuna were raised in June, 1990. The sissoo saplings were growing well with drak green bushy and spreading crowns. Some of them attained a height of about two metres. A wilt symptom first appeared in the last quarter of June, 1991 and it continued to September. By July, about 25% of the 8000 saplings began to wilt. About 5% of them died completely within August. At first the leaves of lower branches became yellowish and continued towards the apex. As a rusult, the entire saplings turned yellow. The leaves lost their turgidity after a few days. Later, these dropped off the branches and finally the saplings died. The vascular tissues in the outer layer of sapwood turned pink. After the death of the saplings the roots and the stem collar stained black.

A greenhouse type solar kiln developed at the Bangladesh Forest Research Institute for seasoning timber has been extensively tested for the last ten years. Twenty-one such solar kilns have been installed by the private and public wood industries for commercial seasoning of timber. Timbers of different species for various enduses have been satisfactorily seasoned. The technique is found simple, inexpensive and effective throughout the year. Solar seasoning of timber thus offers an excellent prospect in Bangladesh.

EUCALYPTS were introduced in Bangladesh probably in 1930. The Bangladesh Forest Research Institute started trials on this species in 1963. It was established through research that the soil and climate of this country are suitable for Eucalyptus canialdulensis, E. brassiana and E. teriticomis. The research results and experience gained by the foresters of Bangladesh, India and some other countries show that eucalypts do not disturb the ecosystem even if planted in a large-scale. Eucalypts can be planted for the production of timber, fuelwood, aroma, oil, gum and pulp. Therefore, this species may be highly economic if properly managed. Its only bad side is that the absentee farmers and rural landowners may find planting of eucalyptus more profitable and advantageous than the traditional agriculture. This may induce rural unemployment.

Pulping of bamboo-hardwoods in a mixture showed that H-factor required in soda + AQ and low sulphidity kraft + AQ was slightly lower than the calculated value from the mixture of the components. The total pulp yield for kraft15 + AQ was higher than the calculated value. But for soda + AQ it was lower from the theoretical value. The tensile strength of the pulp obtained in soda + AQ process was better upto 60% bamboo chips in the mixture. It showed superior quality with more than 60% bamboo in the component in low sulphidity kraft pulping. The bursting strength of the pulp decreased as the bamboo chips increased in kraft15 + AQ pulping. The tear strength behaved almost linearly with any proportion of bamboo chips with wood chips.

The Chakaria Sundarbans has been subjected to severe biotic interferences in the recent decades. A study was carried out to assess the present status, past condition, process of destruction and also to examine the feasibility of reforestation in this mangrove forest. The remnants of most of the commercially important species are available. The greater part of the forest has been converted to shrimp farms. The entire area is virtually without any vegetative cover. The land is apparently suitable for reforestation with mangrove species. However, a rehabilitation programme is only possible if the cooperation of the shrimp farmers and local people can be ensured.

In Bangladesh invasion of ipil-ipil psyllid Heteropsylla cubana Crawford (Psyllidae : Homoptera) was first detected at Bagachattar near Chittagong in 1989. Later a survey on the pest showed that besides other parts of Chittagong it had spread to some parts of greater Dinajpur and Faridpur districts. Both the nymphs and the adults of the psyllid suck sap from young foliage and tender shoot causing drying up of the terminal portion of the branches. The infestation was prevalent during the dry period from October to April. The psyllid also infested rain tree (Sarnanea sanian) and raj koroi (Albizia richardiana) in Bangladesh. In the nursery the pest was controlled by spraying 0.1% malathion three times at an interval of 15 days. One species of coccinellid, one species of dragonfly and two species of spider were recorded as predators of the psyllid in Bangladesh. As chemical control has some drawbacks, stress should be given on breeding psyllid resistant species/clones and utilization of predators, parasites and pathogens to control the pest. As it is a major pest of ipil-ipil in many countries specially in the South and South-East Asian regions, close cooperation and collaboration in both regional and international levels will be of great advantage to combat the problem.

The variation of strength properties of mangium (Acacia mangium) wood treated with the CCA preservative has been studied. It is found that compression parallel to grain, tension perpendicular in radial face and shear parallel to grain in tangential face have been significantly affected by the treatment. The treatment causes reduction in modulus of rupture, stress at proportional limit in static bending and shear parallel to grain. All other strength properties are observed to increase from 3 to 81 percent by treatment.

The nature and status of the non-wood forest products (NWFP) of Bangladesh have been discussed. The present institutional arrangements for collection and processing of NWFP have been analysed and major problems identified. Some policy and functional/managerial suggestions have been made to improve and augment the production and management of the NWFP.

Seed germination of golla-bet (Daemonorops jenkensiana) after pre-sowing treatment was studied. The seeds treated with HCL and H2SO4 separately showed 64-68% and 50-68% germination respectively irrespective of different concentration of acid. On removing only scally epicarp, germination of golla-bet increased to 51% without any acid treatment. The results indicate that acid scarification turn the hard seed coat into thin and papery resulting easy infiltration of water to accelerate possible enzyme activities in endosperm.

The soil moisture stress significantly affected the growth of the four selected eucalypt species. In case of Eucalyptus citriodora the growth improved as the soil moisture content increased up to 53% of field capacity. In case of other species the growth improved up to 67% of field capacity. The root growth was adversely affected with an increase in soil moisture content and therefore there was a decline in the root/shoot ratio. The overall growth was very poor in this highly acid and low fertility level soil.