EFFECT OF SOME AGRICULTURAL TREATMENTS ON THE GROWTH AND CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF SOME WOODY TREE SEEDLINGS

Abstract

Khaya senegalensis, A. Juss, Family Meliaceae, is one of the most important woody trees adapted to the severe soil and climatic conditions prevailed in upper Egypt regions. It is a semi-evergreen tree and was introduced into Upper Egypt as it grows well as a shade and avenue tree. The timber yields hard, heavy and durable African Mahogany wood which used in manufacturing furniture, musical instruments, ships, boats and boxes. The seeds contain 25 % fixed oil used as an insecticide. In addition, Khaya senegalensis may be planted successfully in Toshka as windbreak and as a main tree in shelterbelts to protect all activities in such area. Two separate field experiments were carried out on Khaya senegalensis, Juss, seedlings at the Tropical Farm, Kom Ombo, Botanical Garden at Aswan, Timber Trees and Foresty Dept., Hort. Res. Inst, Agric. Res. Center, Ministry of Agric., Egypt, during two successive seasons of 1996/97 and 1997 /98. The first experiment was designed to investigate the effect of three water amounts and five NPK fertilization rates on growth, chemical consitituents and wood properties. The second experiment, however, was planned to study the effect of five NPK or NPK + microelement treatments and four gibberellic acid concentrations on the same forementioned parameters. The main results could be summarized, for each experiment, as follows: