Studies On The Reproductive Ecology Of Castanea Henryi

Henry chestmut (Castanea henryi (Skan.) Rehd.et Wils.) is a famous wild or cultural tree whose fruit and timber are all used by human. It is worth being studied since it is a tree with high nutrient fruit, better wood quality and high utilization percent. Having studied the repr- oductive behavior and process of the man-made non-timber product forest of henry chestnut, explored the relation between them and their surroundings. To find the environmental factors affecting the reproduction and fine out the best reproductive age of henry chestnut. Then it will provide the theories guiding of henry chestnut on seed sorting, breeding and reproduction. And then it will add some new material to the field of the reproductive ecology of plant. Also it can fill the blank of the study on subject of man-made non-timber prduct forest.The basic laws of reproductive behavior and the relation between them and environment of henry chestnut have been studied through sampling investigations and tracing studies. The results show that, Man-made non-timber product forest of henry chestnut mainly took sexual and non-sexual multiplication. That was: it grew stocks by sexual multiplication first and then was put into production by grafting.The seeds emerged after 45 days from seeding. It added up to 255 days from seeding to growing ceasing in one year. It presented clear "slow-quick-slow" growth regularity on high growth. High growth and basal diameter were both fit for "S" growing regularity on the whole. It presented clear alternation between roots and high, basal diameter growth.Henry chestnut could set fruits at grafting year or the second year, but the fruits were rare. Whereas till after 7 or 8 years later could the seeding tree stark fruits settings. And the output was not as much as the grafting forest. The output of the grafting forest always began declining after 30 years.The man-made non-timber product forest of henry chestnut commonly presented leaves on the last ten-day period of March , presented buds on the bottom of March or beginning of April, flowered on the bottom of April or beginning of May, and fruit maturity on September. But there were some differences between different places. For example, the reproductive pho- nological of henry chestnut in Nanping was some 10 to 15 days ahead of that of in Yangkeng and Liping of Jianou on whole. There were few differences of reproductive phonological bet- ween years in the same place, but in 2003, it presented some 3 to 7days earlier than that in 2004. Among the varieties, the reproductive phonological of Castaneahenryi cv. 'Bailuzi' was the eariest. Its blooming and fruit maturity period were both earlier than the remaining varieties. Those of Castanea henryi cv. 'Zhuzuizhen' and Castanea henryi cv. 'Manzhen' were both the slowest.The numbers of male reproductive organs were much more than those of the females: Am- ong the investigated varieties, the numbers of male inflorescences of 30 reproductive branches were amount to 222~296, while those of female ones were only 49~ 128. And the differences between male and female flowers were bigger. For example,the numbers of male flowers were amount to 39738~65416, while those of female ones were only 62~140. Among the varieties, the ratio of male and female flowers of Castanea henryi cv. 'Huangzhen' was the biggest, it was 1055.1:1; and the left of others were 316.1~447.6:1. The rates of fruit -setting of Castanea henryi cv. 'Manzhen' and Castanea henryi cv. 'Youzhen' were the highest. They were amount to 60%. Those of Castanea henryi cv. 'Huangzhen' and Castanea henryi cv. 'Bailuzi' were secondly. They were 51.6% and 50.74%. And those of Castanea henryi cv. 'Changmangzi' was the lowest, it was only 46.36%. The rate of maturity of Castanea henryi cv. 'Huangzhen' was the highest, it was 56.25%. While that of Castanea henryi cv. 'Manzhen' was the lowest, it was only 33.33%. And the left of others were 55.07% {Castanea henryi cv. 'Bailuzi'), 51.18% {Castanea henryi cv. 'Youzhen') and 45.10% {Castanea henryi cv. 'Changmangzi').The survival rates of the modules of all varieties were low, and the curves of survival rate were nearly fit for Deeveylll. The rates of fruit-setting of all varieties were not high. Among the periods "female flower—>young fruit—'immature fruit—?seed", rates of death of period of "female flower—?young fruit" were the highest, and those of period of "immature fruit—?seed" were secondly.The fruit of Castanea henryi cv. 'Huangzhen' was the best. The dimension and weight of its fruit involucres and nuts were the biggest. So it was named as "King henry chestnut", Castanea henryi cv. 'Manzhen' was the second. There were great differences between the characteristic of the investigated varieties. The sequence weight of one nut was: Castanea henryi cv. 'Huangzhen' >Castanea henryi cv. 'Manzhen' >Castanea henryi cv. 'Youzhen' > Castanea henryi'cv. 'Changmangzi' > Castanea henryi cv. 'Bailuzi'.Among the biomass allocations of all sorts of organs of Castanea henryi cv. 'Manzhen', the allocation of branches was the highest, it was amount to 17873.27g; those of leaves and fruit were secondly, they were 6038.75g and 5485.73g; and that of flowers' was the lowest, it was only 1481.8g. The reproductive allocation of the investigated tree was 22.56%. The biomass of reproductive organs changed greatly in one growing season. For example, it...