Growth Rate of Oil Palms in New Britain.

The leaf area growth rate of tenera progenies from two genetic sources at three sites in New Britain was measured in the pre-bearing stage. It appeared to be very rapid when compared with reports from other countries. Curves fitted to the growth rate data gave very high determination coefficients ( > 0.98) indicating that any seasonal effects were small. The small deviations in 3-monthly growth rate from the fitted curves were compared with climatic data. There was weak evidence of a positive correlation with rainfall and a negative correlation with solar radiation at one site only. A lack of prolonged dry spells and high moisture-holding capacity of pumice in the recent volcanic soil appear to be responsible for the rapid and uniform growth rate.