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.

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.

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 physical and mechanical properties of Bambusa arundinacea, B. longispiculata, B. vulgaris and Dendrocalamus giganteus have been studied at three height levels. The moisture content and shrinkage decrease, whereas specific gravity increases as the height of the culm increases. B. longispiculata exhibits the highest specific gravity among the four species. The diameter shrinkage is found much lower than the shrinkage in wall thickness. The compressive strength, fibre stress at elastic limit and modulus of elasticity increase with the culm height. Among the four species, B. arundinacea shows the highest strength in almost all cases.

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.

In recent decades, the Chakaria Sundarbans located in Cox’s Bazar district has been subjected to a tremendous human interference. It was once covered with moderately dense mangroves. It is now a denuded area. A major proportion of the forest areas has been converted to shrimp ponds. The remaining areas fall under the normal tidal inundation. The Forest Department sought research backup from the Bangladesh Forest Research Institute (BFRI) to develop techniques for the rehabilitation of the mangroves of Chakaria Sundarbans. Accordingly, a reconnaissance survey was conducted. It showed that the area outside the shrimp farms was suitable for raising mangrove species from silvicultural point of view (Siddiqi et al. 1992). Five species, namely sundri (Heritiera fomes), gewa (Excoecaria agallocha), kankra (Bruguiera sexangula), passur (Xylocarpus mekongensis) and baen (Avicennia officinalis) were chosen for trail in the denuded areas.

The forest soils of Bangladesh have been discussed under the four generalized dendro- ecological regions e. g. (i) Floodplain region, (ii) Plio-Pleistocene Terrace region, (iii) Mio-Pliocene Hill region and (iv) Anthropogenetic landtypes region. The dominant soil forming factors and their attributes on physico-chemical, mineralogical properties and the natural soil fertility in each region have been briefly narrated. In addition, major tree species of the dendro-ecological regions and the opportunity for forest production have been discussed. The limitations for tree growth on different dendro-ecological regions have been mentioned. Emphasis has been given on the role of soil moisture regime, acidity, fertility and soil depth on site specific species selection.

Seven different bamboo species have been growing naturally in the forests of Sylhet, Chittagong Hill Tracts, Chittagong and Cox’s Bazar of Bangladesh. Bamboo does not grow naturally in the mangrove and sal (Shorea robusta) forests. The distribution and ecological conditions of species have been described. The overexploitation, fire and other biotic interferences are reducing the area of natural bamboo forests on an average by two per cent annually. Lack of scientific management, especially large scale death after gregarious flowering is also considered to be an important factor for shrinking the bamboo area in the forests. Among the naturally grown forest bamboos the occurrence of Dendrocalamus hamiltonii, Melocalamus compactiflorus and Neohouzeaua dullooa is reducing alarmingly due to the destruction of their habitat. Therefore, these three species have been considered as threatened bamboo species of Bangladesh.

Two provenance trials of Pinus caribaea var. hondurensis were established in randomised complete block design in 1983 and later in 1984 at Keochia Silviculture Research Station, Chittagong, Bangladesh. It was observed that there was no significant difference among the provenances in respect of survival percentage, height and diameter growth and volume yield till December, 1989. All the provenances are doing well in the area. The mean height, diameter at breast height and volume yield per plot of 148.84 m² ranged from 9.5-10.4 m, 12.5-13.8 cm and 1.242-1.663 m³ respectively for the 1982 trial at the age of 7.5 years. The corresponding data for the 1984 trial at the age of 5.5 years were 4.2-5.4 m, 6.0-7.7 cm and 0.102-0.300 m³ respectively.