Acacia plantations

Even though the question is still being studied, the production of gum seems to be a response to some type of agression upon the Acacia tree injury of tissues or infection by micro-organisms. Encouraging research is now being conducted on experimental plantations to study the influences that various treatments(spraying, fertilizers) exert on gum production. 

In the past, reforestation relied on the establishment of monospecific plantations, often with exotics (e.g.. Eucalyptus, Pinus, Acacia spp.) or a limited number of native tree taxa for which seeds are readily available and silvicultural practices have been developed (Knowles and Parrotta 1995). Also at Porto Trombetas, about 160 native forest species in mixed plantings were evaluated for their suitability for forest restoration on bauxite mine land over a 14-year period. Observations over 600 ha of plantings have yielded information on ecological characteristics of the species and cost-effective propagation methods. The plantations of exotics and natives are expected to catalyze natural forest succession in the understory and thus accelerate the rate at which species-rich native forest stands develop on severely degraded lands. 

Fig. 75,1 Indonesia. The rotation period for industrial tree plantations in Indonesia is only seven years. Fast growing trees, mainly Acacia mangium and Eucalyptus species, are planted for pulp and paper production...

Kudus, K.A., Kimber, A.C., and Lapongan, J. (2006) A parametric model for the interval censored survival times of acacia mangium plantation in a spacing trial. J. Appl. Stat., 33 (10), 1067-1074. 

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