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With the objective of determining the effects of silvicultural management on regeneration and growth of mismanaged Arundinaria alpina stands, an experiment was conducted in the Choke Mountain, northwest Ethiopia. Eight soil and plant management techniques that comprise soil loosening, selective thinning and removal of old stumps were splited on two levels of organic fertilizer and applied on one hectare communally owned bamboo stand. Effect of the treatments was observed from data collected in 2009 and 2010 rainy seasons. The number of recruited culms of previous years (2007 and 2008) which had intermittent protection from human and livestock interference was also quantified employing culm age determination techniques. Result of combined analysis of 2009 and 2010 indicated that soil loosening combined with selective thinning and removal of old stumps resulted in culm recruitment of 13,750 plants ha-1, i.e. 37% higher than the control plot. This treatment combination decreased shoot mortality by 61% less than the control and increased culm recruitment by 40 % more than the control plot during the 2009 shooting season. Culm diameter and height of individual culms recruited in 2009 and 2010 showed increasing trend across the two years. Comparison of culm recruitment of previous years with recruitments after treatment application indicated that with improved management, including protection from interference, culm yield of communally owned bamboo stands can be maximized by 158-589%.Keywords: soil loosening, selective thinning, highland bamboo, silviculture, Yushania alpina

With the aim of identifying improved propagation techniques that can be applied in a larger scale plantation, six types of vegetative propagation materials obtained from three A. alpina landraces (TIFRO, WELELE and WONDE) were evaluated for their performance under field condition in the Choke Mountain, northwestern Ethiopia. The three techniques namely stump, rhizome and whole-culm had fastest shoot emergence (21-22 days) and superior performance during the four Months period After establishment (MAE).Shoot height was 262, 233 and 193 cm for stump, rhizome and whole-culm with respective to diameter at breast height of 1.0, 1.1 and 1.5 cm 4 MAE, respectively. The whole-culm method also produced the maximum number of shoots (10 new shoots per propagule), along its stem length (at the upper, middle and butt positions excluding its lower one-third portion) but branch cuttings and culm cuttings had slow shoot emergence (average 30 days) and very poor performance. In general, TIFRO and WELELE landraces had faster shoot emergence (21-23 days) and significantly higher number of new shoots than WONDE landrace. Shoot emergence of the offset (traditional) method was delayed up to the next shooting season (11 MAE) but its performance, including survival rate of the propagules (85%), was superior at that season. New shoots from stump, rhizome and whole-culm were found to be prone (survival rate 17-26%) primarily to strong wind and storm and most probably moisture fluctuations under field condition after four months period hence further research on silvicultural practices that can maximize their persistence is required.Keywords: cuttings, landraces, offset, rhizome-based propagation, Yushania alpina