title: [Dynamics of Amomum villosum growth and its fruit yield cultivated under tropical forests].
abstract: Investigations on the dynamics of Amomum villosum growth and its fruit yield cultivated under tropical ravine rainforest and secondary forest at different elevations in Xishuangbanna showed that the yield of A. villosum was influenced by the site age, sun light level of understorey, and water stress in dry season. The fruit yield and mature plant density decreased with increasing age of the A. villosum site. The fruit yield increased with sun light level when the light level in understorey was under 35% of full sun light (P < 0.05). The fruit yield at the lower site by stream was significantly higher than that at upper site (P < 0.05). The yield difference between ravine rainforest and secondary forest was not significant. Planned cultivation of A. villosum in the secondary forest of the shifting cultivation land by ravine from 800-1000 m elevation instead of customary cultivation in the ravine rainforest, could not only resolve the problem of the effect of light deficiency in understorey and water stress in the dry season on A. villosum fruit yield, but also be useful to protect the tropical ravine rain forest.
authors.affiliation: Kunming Section of Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming 650223, China. zhengz@xtbg.ac.cn
authors.forename: Zheng
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.forename: Jianmin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gan
authors.forename: Zhili
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Feng
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Meng
mesh_terms: D005638:Fruit / Q000254:growth & development; D014197:Trees / Q000254:growth & development*; D014329:Tropical Climate