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Abstract
Melaleuca cajuputi Powell is a multi-use large native tree belonging to the Mytarceae, with a wide ecological distribution from the Central region to the Mekong Delta provinces in Vietnam. The research results on Melaleuca naturally growing at the Forestry Research and Experiment Center showed that melaleuca tree distributes and grows on acidic, nutrient-poor, and waterlogged soils, but it is not able to find any Melaleuca trees growing in the wetland areas of the Center. The Melaleuca forest has the structure of a pure natural forest, its canopy cover is only 0.1 and there are only 11 main species of shrubs mainly living under the forest canopy. The density of the melaleuca forest is extremely low with approximately 2,500 trees ha-1. The common type of natural regeneration of Melaleuca forest is vegetative regeneration, accounting for 85.0% of the total number of regenerated seedlings in the stand and the density of regenerated saplings is only 744.4 trees/ha. The 16-year-old Melaleuca tree has the average growth parameters of total tree height, diameter at breast height and canopy diameter of 6.97 m, 5.40 cm, and 0.68 m, respectively; and the average total forest biomass is 50.1 tons ha-1. The time of annual soil waterlogging has a significant influence on the growth, development, and natural regeneration of the Melaleuca trees. In which, on acid sulfate soils with a waterlogging time of fewer than 4 months per year, the best increment was achieved in terms of height (8.71 m), diameter (6.5 cm), and canopy diameter (0.81 m) as well as the density of regenerated trees (1,067 trees ha-1) and forest biomass (84,168 tons ha-1). It is necessary to study measures to nurture forests, facilitate natural regeneration and tillage techniques to plant and develop Melaleuca trees in the study area efficiently.