Establishment of and production in farmer seed orchards of Gliricidia sepium in the Uplands of Leyte, Philippines

Abstract

Gliricidia sepium, provenance Retalhuleau,has been successfully established on an upland farm in imperata cylinrica (cogon grass) areas of ormos watershed in leyte,phillipines. The farmer cooperator's observation revealed that Retalhulea performed better than the local landrace in terms of growth rate, biomass production, and its capacity to supress cogon. However the stand, established itentionally as a seed orchad, is not producing sufficient amounts of seeds. It became imparative therefore, to examine the factors that affect seed production. A three year research project funded by the International Center for Research in Agroforestry (ICRAF) and Winrock International was initiated to look in to the effect of spacing and fertilizer application on the growth and seed production of Retalhuleau. The study is also designed to assess the effectiveness of provenance to suppress imperata . The two stands of Retalhuleau were included in the study:Afive year old seed orchad established in july 1994 at a spacing of 2*3m and a second stand established specifically for this study in December 1997