Agriculture and Natural Resources 51 (2017) 20e24

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Original Article

Cultivation, production and management techniques of broom grass

(Thysanolaena maxima Roxb.) in hilly areas of Bangladesh
Mohammod Jahangir Alam,a, * Sayed Mohammod Zahirul Islam,b, 1
Mohammod Motiar Rahmana
a
Soil Science Division, Bangladesh Forest Research Institute, Chittagong, Bangladesh
b
Forest Inventory Division, Bangladesh Forest Research Institute, Chittagong, Bangladesh

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: This paper presents the results on appropriate cultivation, plantation, production and management
Received 26 March 2015 techniques of Thysanolaena maxima for domestication at age 1e4 yr (grown 2007e2011). Rhizome
Accepted 30 August 2016 cuttings were planted in research experimental plots at spacings of T1 ¼ 1.0 m  1.0 m, T2 ¼ 1.5 m  1.5 m
Available online 20 February 2017
and T3 ¼ 2.0 m  2.0 m in a randomized complete block design with six replications and three treat-
ments. The results showed that the number of panicles produced was 1048, 41,237, 78,737 and 105,094 in
Keywords:
year 1 to year 4, respectively. The average total green weight (kg/plot) was 10.26, 632.15, 423.34 and
Artificial plantation
543.40 and the average dry weight (kg/plot) was 9.88, 287.65, 216.93 and 241.60 in year 1 to year 4,
Chemical properties of soil
Rhizome cutting
respectively. Composite soil samples were collected and the soil pH values of the surface soil from the
Thysanolaena maxima different treatments varied from 5.1 to 5.2. There was no significant difference among the treatments in
Yield the available P and S. The available Ca, Mg and K were higher in the T3 treatment compared with the
other treatments. Planting rhizome cuttings at 2.0 m  2.0 m spacing gave the maximum broom/panicle
production.
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article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

Introduction The forests of Bangladesh are generally uneven aged and

multistoried. Based on tree height, the floristic composition is
Bangladesh is situated in the northeastern part of South Asia divided into both a top and a middle canopy or storey and the
between 20 340 N and 260 380 N and 88 100 E and 92 410 E. It has an species growing on the forest floor as undergrowth. Ecologically the
area of 1,47,570 km2 and a population of 152.25 million (Bangladesh forest of Bangladesh is classified into four major forest types:
Bureau of Statistics, 2014). Forest makes up 16.7% of the country tropical wet-evergreen, tropical semi-evergreen, tropical moist-
with 6.5% under tree cover and in addition, village forests deciduous and tidal (Das, 1990). Broom grass (Thysanolaena max-
composed of woodlots and other multipurpose fast-growing trees, ima (Roxb.) O. Ktze) of the family Poaceae is a tall, tufted, reed-like
bamboo, cane and shrubs cover 0.27 million ha (Kibria et al., 2000). perennial grass which grows well along hill sides (Bor, 1960;
The forests of Bangladesh are very rich floristically with diverse Clayton and Revoize, 1986). Its inflorescence is made into brooms,
ecosystems in which trees are a major component of the forest hence its common name and it is also known as Chorondhora,
ecosystem as Bangladesh is a transitional zone between the flora Arjunphool and Mio in the Chittagong Hill Tracts and as Phool jhadu
and fauna of the subcontinent and that of Southeast Asia, because in general (Alam, 2007). It grows naturally in temperate and sub-
of her geographic location at the eastern end of the Indian sub- tropical parts of India, Bhutan, Myanmar, China, East Asia, Nepal,
continent (Stanford, 1991). New Guinea and Malaysia up to 2000 m elevation (Watson and
Dallwitz, 1992). It flowers during JuneeJuly and bears inflores-
cence on the shoot apex at the end of vegetative growth. It is an
important non-timber forest resource and is widely used for
* Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: [email protected] (M.J. Alam), zahir.fi[email protected]
cleaning floors, lime washing of building walls, it leaves and tender
(S.M.Z. Islam). culms make good forage and its woody culms are used for fuel and
1
Co-first author.

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2452-316X/Copyright © 2017, Kasetsart University. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://
creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
 M.J. Alam et al. / Agriculture and Natural Resources 51 (2017) 20e24 21

as mulch material (Mohiuddin and Alam, 1987). It also has me- cuttings was required for the 0.1628 ha experimental plot. Three
dicinal value, with a decoction of the roots used as a mouthwash spacingsdT1 ¼ 1.0 m  1.0 m, T2 ¼ 1.5 m  1.5 m and
during fever and the dried paste of fresh roots is applied on the skin T3 ¼ 2.0 m  2.0 mdwere laid out in six replications using a ran-
to check boils (Rai and Sharma, 1994). Its tender twigs are good domized complete block design. The pit size was
cattle feed for improving milk production and also elephants feed 25 cm  25 cm  20 cm with 36 rhizomes per plot. Emerging and
on the whole plant and there are also reports that its fruits have established plantations were protected from cattle browsing and
antifertility properties (Mudgal and Pal, 1980). grazing and from uprooting by wild boars.
The plant has a significant role in the conservation of soils of the
denuded hilly areas (Khisa et al., 1999) and has been identified as an Data collection
important non-timber economic forest product for integrating hill
farming and agroforestry systems (Alam, 1995, 1998). Its fibrous Data were collected from the experimental plot at three times
root mat effectively protects the top soil and nutrients from erosion (September, December and March) annually. Data on the survival
on hill slopes, in landslides affected areas and in agricultural fields percentage, number of culms produced, culm length, culm
as the water run-off and soil loss are reduced by up to 88% diameter, leaves produced per tussock, leaf length and broom
compared with bare areas (Bhuchar, 2001; Sharma et al., 2001). length were collected. Biomass production as green weight and
In Chittagong and the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh, sun dried weight was also measured. Brooms were harvested
broom grass is collected by the tribal ethnic community and local depending on maturity during JanuaryeMarch when the inflo-
people during NovembereMarch from its natural habitat. It is rescence became tough and had changed color to light green/red.
also traded at a high price at home and abroad and is exported to Harvesting of mature brooms was done very carefully. Every year,
the Middle East, Pakistan and Japan as a non-traditional product broom panicles were collected in JanuaryeFebruary and dried for
(Alam et al., 2013). However, scarce information is available on its up for 30 d in full sunshine. The culms were harvested by cutting
cultivation, management and production system (Barik et al., with a pair of sharp scissors 35e40 cm above the ground. The
1996). panicle was collected by hand pulling and properly sun dried for
Considering the increasing demand for this produce, it is 25e30 d.
necessary to determine its cultivation and management techniques
on the fallow and marginal lands in the forest in hilly areas of Soil sample collection and analysis
Bangladesh. The present study aimed to develop appropriate
cultivation, plantation, production and management techniques for Soils samples were collected from the selected site. Each sample
T. maxima. was a composite sample of three subsamples. The soil samples
were put into polythene bags for transporting to the laboratory. Soil
Materials and methods samples were air dried, ground, sieved (to less than 2 mm) and
preserved in plastic bottles.
Description of the research site Soil pH (soil to water ratio of 1:2.5), organic matter (Walkley
and Black, 1934), total N content (micro Kjeldahl distillation
The experiment was carried out during 2007e2011 at the Keochia method) and available soil P (Bray and Kurtz, 1945) were deter-
Silvicultural Research Station, Satkania, Bangladesh Forest Research mined using the ascorbic acid blue color method (Murphy and
Institute, Chittagong, Bangladesh. It is situated at 22110 N and Riley, 1962) and available soil S (Fox et al., 1964) was determined
92130 E and is 45 km south of Chittagong city. It lies on both sides of using the turbidimetric method (Hunt, 1980). Available Ca and Mg
the Bandarban Road at 3 km east from the Chittagong-Cox's Bazar in the soil were extracted using 1 N neutral ammonium acetate
Road transect and parts of Keochia, Sharashia, Mahalia and Sodaha solution followed by atomic absorption spectrophotometry and K
Mouzas of Satkania Upazilla are located within the station boundary. in the soil was extracted using the same method with a flame
The topography of the experimental site is hilly to flat having an photometer.
altitude of 15 m above mean sea level with medium to gentle slopes.
The annual rainfall ranges from 3000 mm to 3200 mm with a Statistical analysis
minimum annual temperature of 21.4  C and a maximum of 33.4  C.
The soil is brown with stones and small gravel pieces and is shallow Analysis of variance (ANOVA) for the randomized complete
to deep with good drainage conditions; the soil texture is a sandy block design was performed using the SPSS software package (SPSS
loam to sandy clay loam (Hossain et al., 1989; Hassan et al., 1992). Inc.; Chicago, IL, USA). Duncan's Multiple Range Test at p < 0.05 and
p < 0.01 was used when an ANOVA table indicated that there were
Preparation of propagules significant treatment effects (Steel et al., 1997).

In total, 950 rhizomes of T. maxima were collected from the Results and discussion
Bandarban hill district. The culms were cut to obtain stem lengths
of 15e20 cm with roots. These were cut into pieces of length Spacing of the rhizomes significantly influenced the mean
5e10 cm each weighing 40e60 g and having one or two dormant growth production parameters of above ground vegetation of
buds. Then, 700 rhizome cuttings were sorted for setting in nursery broom grass at different ages (Table 1 and Fig. 1). Initially (year 1)
beds for sprouting new shoots. After 2 mth, 648 rhizome cuttings the maximum number of culms produced (35) was observed in T1,
were selected for planting in the experimental area. maximum culm length (73.31 cm) in T2, maximum culm diameter
(5.8 cm) in T3, maximum number of leaves per tussock (13) in T3,
Experimental design and treatments maximum leaf length (15.51 cm) in T3 and the maximum broom
length (12.24 cm) was attained in T3. Similar trends were also
The planting site was cleared and made free from weeds observed in the second year. At age 4 yr, it was observed that the
through jungle cutting and weeding. A total of 648 rhizome maximum number of culms (3235), maximum culm length
22 M.J. Alam et al. / Agriculture and Natural Resources 51 (2017) 20e24

Table 1
Growth performance of broom grass under different treatments in the experimental plots.

Year Treatmenty Averagez

Culms produced Culm length (cm) Culm diameter (cm) Leaves per tussock Leaf length (cm) Broom length (cm)
a c c c c
1 T1 35.00 56.21 3.30 8.00 10.18 8.32c
T2 29.00b 73.31a 4.38b 11.00b 13.24b 9.60b
T3 27.00c 69.80b 5.80a 13.00a 15.51a 12.24a
F 402.82 2183.95 175.48 74.85 506.15 176.73
p 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000
Significance ** ** ** ** ** **
2 T1 1347.00a 75.80c 4.81c 15.00b 18.44b 15.21b
T2 1183.00c 132.36a 5.84b 14.00b 12.49c 18.14b
T3 1237.00b 105.97b 6.46a 18.00a 24.00a 22.78a
F 731.67 11714.20 37.20 14.19 821.08 542.73
p 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.006 0.000 0.000
Significance ** ** ** ** ** **
3 T1 2214.00b 119.22c 6.58b 20.00c 27.33b 26.75b
T2 2214.00c 121.51b 7.16a 23.00b 28.99b 25.55c
T3 2625.00a 133.01a 6.42c 25.00a 32.80a 30.66a
F 542.90 256.90 7.50 17.70 24.40 112.00
p 0.000 0.000 0.021 0.013 0.0015 0.000
Significance ** ** * * * **
4 T1 3150.00b 139.70c 7.60a 26.00c 33.00ab 32.70b
T2 2931.00c 151.90b 7.40b 27.00b 34.10a 33.00ab
T3 3235.00a 168.80a 6.70c 29.00a 32.50b 33.70a
F 2390.50 621.20 12.50 10.20 4.50 3.40
p 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.015 0.019 0.040
Significance ** ** ** * * *
y
T1 ¼ 1.0 m square spacing, T2 ¼ 1.5 m square spacing, T3 ¼ 2.0 m square spacing, F and p are standard statistical parameters; * ¼ significant at p < 0.05, ** ¼ significant at
p < 0.001.
z
Values are the mean of three treatments and values with different superscript letters differ significantly at the 5% and 1% level.

Table 2
Production of T. maxima at age 4.7 yr in the experimental plots.

Year Treatmenty Harvested broom/ Total weightz (kg) Average soil

paniclez (number) depthz (cm)
Green Dry

1 T1 32a 10.26a 4.18b 11.39a

T2 22c 6.7c 2.28c 9.56c
T3 26b 7.5b 9.88a 10.45b
F 55.37 100.19 100.19 9.94
p 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.002
Significance ** ** ** **
2 T1 1112a 550.69b 261.1b 18.62c
T2 903c 632.15a 287.65a 22.58b
T3 1057b 504.08c 234.1c 24.6a
F 573.10 746.53 385.39 75.78
p 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000
Significance ** ** ** **
3 T1 1976b 365.95c 183.24b 29.94c
Fig. 1. Average broom grass production with different treatments at 4.7 yr.
T2 1737c 423.34a 181.29c 31.04b
T3 2149a 370.19b 216.93a 32.91a
(168.8 cm) and maximum number of leaves per tussock (29) were F 5298.60 557.90 384.30 6.80
p 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.030
observed in T3 followed by T1 and T2, respectively, which were
Significance ** ** ** *
different at the 1% level of significance. 4 T1 2449c 485.1c 203.4b 33.9b
A similar trend was also found in yield and biomass production T2 2532b 491.5b 195.5c 33.9b
(Table 2). Initially (year 1) the maximum number of broom panicles T3 2840a 543.4a 241.6a 35.3a
F 5995.00 619.90 334.20 8.90
per year (32) and green weight (10.26 kg) were found at the closest
p 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.001
spacing (T1) followed by T3 (26 and 7.5 kg, respectively) and T2 (22 Significance ** ** ** **
and 6.7 kg, respectively). However, the maximum dry weight of y
T1 ¼ 1.0 m square spacing, T2 ¼ 1.5 m square spacing, T3 ¼ 2.0 m square spacing, F
broom (9.88 kg) was found at the widest spacing (T3) followed by T1
and p are standard statistical parameters; * ¼ significant at p < 0.05, ** ¼ significant
(4.18 kg) and T2 (2.28 kg). At age 3 yr and 4 yr, the maximum at p < 0.001.
z
number of harvested broom panicles per year (2149 and 2840, Values are the mean of three treatments and values with different superscript
respectively) and dry weight (216.93 and 241.6 kg, respectively) letters differ significantly at the 5% and 1% level as indicated by the asterisks.
were recorded at the widest spacing (T3) and these were significant,
but the green weight maximum among treatments was recorded in (Table 2), with numbers being 1048, 41,237, 78,737 and 105,094 for
the T2 treatment for age 2 yr and 3 yr with values of 632.15 kg and plantations aged 1 yre4 yr, respectively. The maximum yield was
423.34 kg, respectively. recorded in year 3 and year 4. Biomass production (panicles) of
At age 4.7 yr, the maximum number of harvested broom pani- broom grass increased from year 2. Barik et al. (1996) reported that
cles was found growing in soil having the maximum depth culms and broom production in a plantation increased till the
 M.J. Alam et al. / Agriculture and Natural Resources 51 (2017) 20e24 23

fourth year after planting and then declined. The maximum possible and there is a need to grow it in artificial plantations due to
biomass production from the rhizome-propagated culms was in the increasing population resulting in increased local and export
year 3 and declined thereafter (Bhuchar, 2001). In the current demands. Not only abroad, but also in Bangladesh it is a profitable
experiment, the yield of broom grass (number of panicles/ha) was cash crop and development of a cottage based industry in the
41,237, 78,737 and 105,094 in years 2, 3 and 4, respectively. Chittagong Hill Tracts. This paper provides guidelines for the sci-
Consequently, harvesting of broom grass started from year 2 entific cultivation, production and proper management of
(Fig. 2). T. maxima in the hilly areas of Bangladesh.
The soil pH values of the surface soil from the different treat-
ments varied from 5.1 to 5.2. The organic matter content of the Conflict of interest
surface soil was higher in the T3 treatment and lower in the T2
treatment. The total N content was higher in the T1 treatment fol- None.
lowed by the T3 and T2 treatments, respectively. There was no sig-
nificant difference among the treatments for the available P and S.
Acknowledgements
The available Ca, Mg and K were higher in the T3 treatment
compared to the other treatments (Table 3). Naturally, broom
The authors are thankful to Dr Md Khairul Alam, Chief Research
grasses grow well on the steep slopes and undisturbed fallow areas
Officer (retired) and Mr Md Zashimuddin, Divisional Officer
of Chittagong and the Chittagong Hill Tracts where no management
(retired) for their cooperation and critical suggestions in designing
is required (Khisa et al., 1999). However, the experiment was set on a
this experiment and preparing the manuscript. Thanks are also due
gentle hill slope and it needed care and maintenance to be
to Mr Pradip Kanti Das, Forest Ranger, and to all the staff at the
economically viable. In an artificial plantation, 2e3 weeding ses-
Keochia Silvicultural Research Station, Bangladesh Forest Research
sions during the first 2 yr are essential and commercial cultivation
Institute for their assistance in maintaining the experiment.
needs protection from grazing animals and wild boar as well as from
fire during the dry season (Khisa et al., 1999). Consequently, broom
grass production may vary from area to area both in natural and References
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