Seedling growth and survival of selected wild edible fruit species of the Sikkim Himalaya, India

In the Sikkim Himalaya, an enormous variety of wild growing plants are exploited at large scale for collection of their edible parts, of which six most prominently utilized fruit species (viz., Baccaurea sapida, Diploknema butyracea, Elaeagnus latifolia, Eriolobus indica, Machilus edulis and Spondias axillaris) were investigated. The growth of nursery raised seedlings was measured at 3 month intervals until two years old in terms of absolute growth rate (AGR), relative growth rate (RGR), net assimilation rate (NAR), leaf area ratio (LAR), leaf weight ratio (LWR), stem weight ratio (SWR), root weight ratio (RWR) and root-shoot ratio (RSR). Spondias axillaris and Machilus edulis had the maximum AGR, RGR, LAR and SWR among all species. LWR was highest for B. sapida. RGR, LAR and LWR declined with the age of seedlings. RGR was negatively correlated with NAR, SWR, RWR and RSR, though it showed a positive relationship with LAR. For all species, seedlings attained significant sizes after one year of age, and showed reasonable survival after transplantation into the farmers' fields. It is expected that information on the growth behaviour of these species would be useful while they are adopted into agroforestry systems. It is suggested that these species should be multiplied at large scale and distributed to the local inhabitants to reduce pressure on them in natural stands as well as provide economic benefit to the subsistence farmers.