Mycorrhizal Seedling Production For Enhancing Rehabilitation Of Degraded Forest In Indonesia

Abstract

Tropical deforestation has become an extremely important global environmental issue over the past five years. The range of the annual deforestation rate in Indonesia is between 0.9-1.2 million hectare and about 13.2 million hectares of degraded tropical rain forest in Indonesia are classified as critical sites, urgently needing revegetated. The Indonesia government has an ambitious programme to accelerate efforts to re-vegetate deforested areas. Reforestation however is not an easy task. Adverse edaphic and climatic conditions and low activity of soil microbes are major constraints limiting success of this activity. Transplanted seedlings often have poor growth and low survival rates. To ensure successful tree establishment under such conditions, producing more planting stock of improved quality and introducing effective mycorrhizal fungi onto the seedlings in the nursery are required. Improvement of planting stock quality by manipulation of seedling containers, potting media, inoculation with selected and effective mycorrhizal fungi and nursery management are discussed. This paper provides an overview of techniques to produce mycorrhizal planting stock for enhancing rehabilitation of degraded forest in Indonesia. Key words: Degraded tropical lands, forest restoration, nursery techniques, seedling quality.