Author : Castañeto, Yolina, T.

Summary : The study was conducted to determine variations of narra (Pterocarpus indicus Willd.) provenances tested in varying soil moisture content and soil pH and their interactions. The experiment portion used seeds collected from various provenances and bulked samples coming from 5-10 trees. The experimental design was a factorial experiment in randomized complete block design (RCBD). The seedlings were tended in the nursery for six months afterwhich the different parameters were measured to assess the seedlings response to the different treatments applied. Seedling height, root collar diameter (RCD), length of tap root, number of leaves, shoot biomass, root biomass, total biomass, root/shoot, leaf area, number of stomates, and relative water content were measured to evaluate the response of narra species to the different treatments. Soil pH gave significant differences in various narra seedling morphological traits in height, root biomass, shoot biomass, total biomass, root/shoot ratio, lenght of tap root, and number of leaves. Over-all assessment showed superior growth and vigor of narra seedlings at pH 5.8 and 6.4 than pH 7.8. A slightly acidic soil of pH 5.8 and 6.4 therefore enhanced good of seedlings. Different provenances of narra gave varying phenotypic variations (morphological as well as physiological) as manifested by seedlings in root collar diameter, shoot biomass, root/shoot ratio, length of tap root, number of leaves and leaf area. P1 (Tacloban City) provenance performed best over other provenances studied and should be the best choice as sorce of seeds for planting areas where soils were collected. Moisture stress applied to the seedling at varying levels based on the field capacity gave significant results in root collar diameter, root biomass and total biomass. As expected seedlings grown at 75 percent of the field capacity have superior growth compared to seedlings grown at lower soil moisture applied to the soil. It was also evident that narra seedlings can survive in moisture content up to 35 percent.