Authors:Rakesh kuma; Mohinder Pal; Rajiv Pandey; Ruchi Mathur
Abstract:A study on Dendrocalamus strictus seedlings was conducted to identify the underlying factorsin growth parameters, and then to analyse factorscores obtained through factor analysisto test the variationamong groups of differentnumber of culms per clump. Six-month-oldseedlings(clumps) of Dendrocalamus strictus with four groups (based on two, three, four and ve or more culms per clump) were sampled and different growth parameters(height of culms, basal culm diameter, number of leaves, number of rhizome sub-units and fresh and dry weight of culms, leaves, rhizome and roots) were measured. A three-factormodel accounted for 72 percent of the total variation present in the data was extracted. The rst factor, having high positive loadings on fresh and dry weight of rhizome and dry weight of roots, was called the ‘below ground mass factor’. The second factor had high positive loadings on height of culms and basal culm diameter and was called the ‘above ground growth factor’. The second factor was signi cantly different and divided the groups in two homogenoussub-groups. The third factor (photosynthetic)had high positive loading on the number of leaves and did not vary signi cantly within the group of number of culms per clump. Factor analysis provided a statistical tool for grouping the 12 correlated growth parameters into three uncorrelated factors. Analysis of factor scores allowed independent assessment of the number of culms per clump.
Keywords:Bamboo; culms; growth parameters.