CONTAINER VOLUME AFFECTS GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT OF WAX-APPLE

The was-apple [Syzygium samarangense (Bl.) Merr. & Perry] is a vigorou s tropical fruit tree species that has five to six growth flushes per year, One-year-old, root-bearing wax-apple trees were grown in differe nt-sized containers filled with potting mixture to test if container v olume restricts shoot and/or root growth and thereby lends itself to f orcing culture, The trunk cross-sectional area (TCSA) at 15 cm above t he soil was measured to assess vegetative growth. After 6 months, the TCSA had increased quadratically with container volume, At the end of the first and second year, leaf count, leaf area, leaf dry mass, stem dry mass, shoot dry mass, and root dry mass were positively correlated with container volume. However, the shoot : root ratios remained fair ly constant among treatments during the experimental period, Thus, roo t restriction is an effective means of reducing shoot and root growth of the wax-apple.