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Firewood
In many parts of Java calliandra wood has become a favorite fuel. In one instance an experimental plantation of 0.5 hectares was established in 1963, and within 12 years villagers had independently established more than 250 hectares of their own firewood plantations on nearby farms and home lots.
Villagers favor calliandra because it is easy to establish, produces fuelwood quickly, is simple to harvest, and resprouts readily. The wood dries rapidly and, if necessary, can be used for fuel after only 6 days. (However, the cut branches are usually left on the ground a week or two for the leaves to fall off before being cut to length and stacked for further drying.) Calliandra wood is quite dense (specific gravity 0.5-0.8) and burns well, giving off about 4,600 kcal of heat per kg. It converts to charcoal (34 percent yield in one test) with a fuel value of 7,200 kcal per kg. Indonesians estimate that 1 hectare can produce up to 14 tons of charcoal.
Pulp and Paper
Apparently calliandra wood is suitable for pulp and papermaking. Its cellulose content is about 44-56 percent. Fiber length in the main stems averages between 0.66 and 0.84 mm but may be as long as 1.3 mm, the lumen diameter is 17.4-18.4µ and the fiber-wall thickness is 4.39-6.00 µ The wood contains about 3 percent extractive material.
Calliandra pulp is easily bleached. One factory in East Java uses it in papermaking, although it is used mainly as a filler at less than 10 percent of the total pulp. The small size of the calliandra wood makes handling and chipping difficult, and therefore the pulps from
Sesbania grandiflora and Maesopsis eminii are preferable.
Reforestation
Nitrogen-fixing trees such as calliandra hold particular promise for supplementing current reforestation efforts. Indeed, they seem to have special attributes for fighting deforestation.
As already discussed, Indonesians use calliandra to recover bare lands, to improve hydrological conditions, and to hamper the growth of noxious weeds (notably Imperata cylindrica, Eupatorium species, and Saccharum species) as well as to prevent soil erosion and landslides on slopes, ravines, and river banks.
Calliandra's rapid growth and dense foliage provide good ground cover, and its deep, extensive root system binds soil, thereby making calliandra particularly suitable for erosion control on slopes. There are plans to use it also for stream-bank protection in Java.
Calliandra trees are planted around state forest lands on Java to protect timber trees from being destroyed. By providing firewood and forage they reduce illegal woodcutting in the forests, and they help prevent the spread of ground fires, which are common in Imperata grass areas.
Indonesian foresters also plant calliandra as an intercrop to fill in the spaces between newly planted trees, especially on bare lands and where the trees are widely spaced. Strips of calliandra provide good shade for seedlings of plantation species such as damar (Agathis loranthifolia). The foresters now hope that strips of calliandra will encourage the early growth of partially shade-tolerant trees such as meranti (Shorea species), eboni (Diospyros species), or ulin (Eusideroxylon zwagerii).
Calliandra can be planted beneath stands of other trees. For example, it is being grown beneath stands of pines at both Tawangmangu and Deles on Java. Two-year-old calliandra grown beneath Pinus merkusii at Tawangmangu have yielded 60-70 stacked-meters of firewood per hectare. Elsewhere on Java it is planted beneath Eucalyptus deglupta.
Indonesian foresters use it for stabilizing eroding slopes. Calliandra has also been used as a firebreak to block the passage of grass fires. (K.F. Wiersum) ]
Soil Improvement
Calliandra helps enrich soil and aids neighboring plants. Natural leaf drop contributes nitrogen to the earth beneath the shrubs, and small leaflets decay quickly to build humus and improve soil texture. Moreover, calliandra's main root penetrates deep in the soil and exploits mineral nutrients from strata below the root zone of most agricultural crops.
Eventually these nutrients are deposited on the surface through the decay of leaves, again improving topsoil.
Farmers in East Java sometimes rotate agricultural crops with calliandra plantations.
Planting contour rows of calliandra on agricultural land and mountain slopes not only prevents erosion but also improves the fertility of soil. After 5-10 years these strips have successfully rehabilitated some poor agricultural lands; the calliandra trees are then harvested and the land is returned to cultivation.
One rotation sequence worked out by villagers at Toyomerto involves growing calliandra for 4 years, sugarcane for 4 years, and corn for 2 years. The villagers have found that it takes only 4 years for the calliandra trees to make the soil rich enough for good crops of sugarcane, a notably high user of nitrogen.
Forage
Indonesian rural communities frequently cut calliandra leaves to feed their livestock. Annual yields of 7-10 tons of dry fodder per hectare have been recorded. Calliandra is already grown for fodder, together with elephant grass, in large areas of Java previously unable to support any economic crop. Thus, forage production, perhaps in a silvipastoral system, is a promising use of the plant.
Calliandra foliage is browsed by sheep, goats, and cows. In sheep-feeding trials using mixed diets of grass and calliandra, best growth was obtained with 40-60 percent calliandra.
Calliandra leafmeal was also successfully used in chicken feed in amounts up to 5 percent.
Indonesia.
In Central Java dried calliandra leaves are often pulverized and pressed into pellets, either alone or mixed with leucaena leaves. Pellets are then used for feed on Javanese chicken farms or exported. Calliandra leaflets detach readily on drying, so that separating the leaflets for animal feed is easy.
The following observations have been made on the composition of calliandra forage:+
Leaves. Calliandra leaves, like those of leucaena, are rich in protein (up to 22 percent, dry weight basis) and contain 30-75 percent fiber, 4-5 percent ash, and 2-3 percent fat.
Simple polyphenols. Calliandra foliage has only one polyphenol, quercetin-3-rhamnoside, at a concentration of about 1 percent; leucaena foliage, on the other hand, has an array of seven flavonol glycosides comprising about 3.5 percent of the leafless' dry weight.
Tannins. There is a much higher content of vanillin-reacting compounds in calliandra than in leucaena, and the level of these condensed tannins seems to be in the range of 1-3 percent.
Antinutrition factors. No toxic substances have been found so far. Mimosine, which is of concern in feeding leucaena foliage to nonruminant animals, is absent in calliandra.
Honey and Shellac
Honey bees favor calliandra nectar, and the plant flowers almost year-round, which makes it a promising bee forage. With the large calliandra plantations in East Java, rural communities are increasingly rearing honey bees. The eagerness to grow calliandra for honey has been an important incentive in Perum Perhutani's re-greening activities. Honey from calliandra flowers has a bittersweet flavor. It has been estimated that calliandra plantations could yield one ton of honey per hectare annually.
In trials, calliandra has also proved to be a suitable host plant for the insect Kerria lacca (Lacciter lacca), which yields valuable shellac.
Ornamental Use
As already noted, the calliandra bush is an attractive ornamental and makes useful hedges with beautiful red flowers. Indonesians recommend calliandra for planting along roadsides, village boundaries, fields, dikes, canals, and forests.
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