*Section A: Response of growth and development of oil palm seedlings to shading, irrigation regimes and mycorrhizal inoculation in the dry season in the nursery.*

Treatments were shading and no-shading (open sun), 7- and 14- day irrigation intervals and mycorrhizal inoculation or non-inoculation. Across irrigation treatments, un-shaded oil palm seedlings had lower biomass weights (leaf, frond and shoot) while the treatments significantly affected plant height and frond length from 2 to 20 weeks after planting (**Table 1**). The seedlings irrigated fortnightly produced longer roots compared with the unshaded and weekly irrigated (**Table 2**). Shading and weekly irrigation significantly enhanced soil moisture contents and


*Oil Palm-Based Cropping Systems of the Humid Tropics: Addressing Production… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.98257*

**Table 1.**

*Effect of shading on growth parameters of oil palm seedlings.*


### **Table 2.**

*Effect of irrigation on growth parameters of oil palm seedlings.*

seedling water use efficiency compared with the unshaded. Shaded seedlings under weekly irrigation consumed more water compared with fortnight irrigation (**Table 3**). Shading and weekly irrigated seedlings combined with mycorrhizal innoculation were more vigorous compared with the unshaded and non-inoculated (**Table 4**). Mycorrhizal inoculation enhanced oil palm seedling growth while weekly irrigation produced more vigorous seedlings. Shade conserved soil moisture whie unshaded had lower soil moisture contents across period of observation (**Figure 1**). The unshaded oil palm seedlings had significantly higher water use compared with the shaded for both weekly and fortnight irrigation (**Figure 2**). Shade combined with AMF inoculation enhanced vigor of growth across the irrigation treatments, and reduced mortality of oil palm seedlings in the nursery in the dry season (**Figure 3**).
