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Propagation
Vegetative
propagation is the most feasible method of mass-producing bamboo.
Feasible ways to propagate are by:
•
Culm cutting
• Branch cutting
• Tissue culture
Culm
Cutting
This
method uses segments of culm (cuttings) bearing buds or fascicles
of branches. Cuttings are extensively used to propagate most of
the sympodial bamboos of the genera Bambusa, Dendrocalamus,
and Gigantochloa. Traditionally, these species are directly
planted in the field, particularly if the source is near the planting
area. However, this is practical in propagating limited number of
clumps. For large-scale plantation, raising these species in the
nursery is necessary.
Nursery grown culm cuttings have better survival, growth and development
in the field than directly planted cuttings because the former receive
better care and maintenance and proper grading or selection during
outplanting. Culm cuttings are most preferred over large propagules
because of ease of preparation and transport, availability of materials
at the right age, and cheap.
Culm
cutting (1-node)
From June to October, the selected one-year old culm is cut 8 ft.
above the ground. Then the branches are pruned. The culm is then
sown into one-node pieces.
Each one-node culm cutting is planted in a pot. Note the inclined
position of propagule so that the emerging shoot will grow vertically.
If the shoot grows sideways, it gets entangled with neighboring
shoots, which will make separation difficult.
Tests have shown that the optimum length of the branch to be left
attached to the culm is a stub with a remaining branch node. ‘Kauayan-tinik’
cutting needs full sunlight. Shading slows the growth and enhances
the mortality rate.
Branch-marcott
culm cutting
This method is similar to culm cutting method, however, it induces
first the rooting of branches by marcottage, before the culm is
cut into one-node pieces for planting. This prerooting procedure
is necessary when propagating from small-diameter culms, which cannot
be directly propagated by culm cutting.
By propagating from full-sized culms by culm cutting, and then later
from the small culms of the young plantings through the branch-marcott
culm cutting system, the rate of propagation is accelerated.
The higher rater of success compensates the additional labor and
materials needed for marcotting. The time needed for roots to form,
which is about 15 days, is regained by faster growth of the marcott.
Source: The Bamboo Production Committee, 1991.
Philippines Recommends for Bamboo Production, PCARRD, Los Baños,
Laguna, p. 13.
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Branch
Cutting
Branch
cutting is an alternative method of propagating rhizomatous branch-producing
bamboos like ‘kauayan-tinik’ (Bambusa blumeana), ’bayog’ (Dendrocalamus
merrillianus), ’kiling’ (B. vulgaris), striated bamboo
(B. vulgaris var. striata), and others. Individual branches
that resemble the mother culm in having small basal portion, which
recapitulates the rhizome are referred as rhizomatous. Such characteristic
of the branch coupled with its size (being small) makes the branch
a potential material for the production of economical and uniform
planting stocks that are easy to handle for outplanting. The method
does not require cutting of potentially marketable culms.
Source: The Bamboo Production Committee, 1991. Philippines
Recommends for Bamboo Production, PCARRD, Los Baños, Laguna,
p. 16.
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Tissue
Culture
It is
biotechnology, which involves the development of new plants in an
artificial medium under aseptic conditions from plant tissues. Unlike
other propagation methods, the relative space and human resource requirement
to mass-produce bamboos is small. Moreover, the production of plants
can be carried out in the laboratory the whole year round.
Propagation techniques involving aseptic culture of plant parts have
been proven useful for bamboo. Several approaches to propagation have
been reported including (a) callus establishment from seeds and excised
embryos with subsequent plant regeneration; (b) callus establishment
from shoots; (c) node culture; and (d) multiple plant formation from
aseptically germinated seedlings.
Of the various tissue culture techniques, seed and embryo culture
are sufficiently developed for massive planting. In India, tissue
culture was used to produce several thousands of plants of Dendrocalamus
strictus. D. strictus is one of the known drought-resistant bamboos.
It may be useful in the country's reforestation programs. Mascarenhas
et al. (1988) calculated that the cost of a tissue-cultured plant
in India would be Rs. O.50 if plants arise from somatic embryogenesis.
For somatic embryogenesis, cells are induced to divide form-germinating
seeds (Rao et al. 1988) or from isolated embryos for aseptic culture
(Zamora and Gruezo 1990) and from callus (masses of dividing cells)
in vitro. Embryogenic calli are selected and multiplied in the laboratory
to establish sufficient cultures from which plants can be regenerated.
Unlike other propagation methods, the relative space required to propagate
thousands of plants is small.
The propagation technique using excised embryos has been demonstrated
locally for D. strictus and for bamboo like Schizostachyum lumampao,
Gigantochloa levis and S. lima at the laboratory of the Cellular and
Molecular Plant Biology Program, Institute of Plant Breeding, UP at
Los Baños. Tissue culture-derived plants are now planted in
Bataan (Bataan National Agricultural School, Abucay), Zambales (Western
Luzon Agricultural School, San Marcelino), Pampanga (Pampanga Agricultural
College), and Laguna (UP Los Baños- Institute of Plant Breeding).
The procedures described for tissue culture propagation and outplanting
have been tried on a small scale (experimental) and need to be scaled
up and optimized for recommendation to other tissue culture laboratories
for production schemes.
Source: The Bamboo Production Committee, 1991. Philippines
Recommends for Bamboo Production, PCARRD, Los Baños, Laguna.
pp. 17-20.
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