Flowering nature and performance of seedlings raised plantation of Dendrocalamus giganteus

Abstract

During 2014-2015 one clump of Dendrocalamus giganteus flowered at Garh Mukteshwar Farm, Hapur in Uttar Pradesh, India. Part of the clump flowered during May, 2014 and died in July after yielding little amount of seeds; the remaining part flowered in next year June and died by August 2015 without any seed setting. Past reports and present study showed that occasionally the species also flower completely and die with or without seeds; in some instances, a few flowering clumps rejuvenated to vegetative state. D. giganteus rarely flowered sporadically but not reported gregariously and might have more than one flowering populations (cohorts). A plantation of 165 clumps of D. giganteus was raised through available seedlings and studied their growth performance. The clump height, culm diameter, and number of full grown culms produced per clump in 3rd and 5th year of plantation are presented and discussed. The majority of clumps exhibited satisfactory growth after 5th year of age. No disease and growth abnormalities were noticed in any clumps in the plantation.