Tag: balanites aegyptiaca
Fruit Tree Portfolios for Improved Diets and Nutrition in Machakos County, Kenya: How to use the diversity of different fruit tree species available in Machakos county to provide better nutrition for smallholder farming families
Nutrients are the nutritious components in foods that the body needs to grow strong and healthy. A diverse and balanced diet contains a range of nutrients.Fruits deliver important nutrients for healthy and strong bodies such as Vitamins A, C and B6:Vitamin A is for healthy eyes and good vision.Vitamin C provides general good health and reduces illness such as colds.Vitamin B6 is good for pregnant women and young children for healthy development.
Morphological variation in Balanites aegyptiaca fruits and seeds within and among parkland agroforests in eastern Niger
Balanites aegyptiaca (L.) Delile. is one of the priority indigenous fruit trees for rural communities in the West African Sahel. As part of a participatory tree domestication program in Niger, phenotypic variation in fruit and seed morphology was assessed in four natural populations in eastern Niger. Measured variables were weight of the fruit, seed coat and kernel; length and width of the fruit and seed (25 trees per population, 30 fruits per tree). Derived variables were the tree’s coefficient of variation (CVs) for each measured variable, and two sets of factor scores from principal components analysis of tree means and CVs. ANOVA indicated significant variation in all measured variables due to trees nested in populations. ANOVA and simple linear regression indicated significant geographic variation in some variables: the drier parts of the sample region tended to have heavier fruits and kernels, longer/narrower seeds, and lower within-tree variability in fruit and seed width. Length and width were strongly correlated between fruits and seeds, fruit weight was moderately correlated with seed dimensions, and CVs of fruit weight and width were moderately correlated with the CV of seed width. Some hypotheses for the geographic variation are presented, and some practical implications of the correlations for tree domestication programs are discussed.
Agroforestry: a decade of development (ICRAF’s tenth anniversary 1977-1987)
Throughout the world, at one period or another in its history, it has been the practice to cultivate tree species and agricultural crops in intimate combination. The examples are numerous. It was the general custom in Europe, at least until the Middle Ages, to clear-fell derelict forest, burn the slash, cultivate food crops for varying periods on the cleared areas, and plant or sow tree species before, along with, or after the sowing of the agricultural crop. This “farming system” is, of course, no longer popular in Europe. But it was still widely followed in Finland up to the end of the last century, and was being practised in a few areas in Germany as late as the 1920s (King, 1968). In tropical America, many societies have traditionally simulated forest conditions in their farms in order to obtain the beneficial effects of forest structures. Farmers in Central America, for example, have long imitated the structure and species diversity of tropical forests by planting a variety of crops with different growth habits. Plots of no more than one-tenth of a hectare contained, on average, two dozen different species of plants each with a different form, together corresponding to the layered configuration of mixed tropical forests: coconut or papaya with a lower layer of bananas or citrus, a shrub layer of coffee or cacao, tall and low annuals such as maize, and finally a spreading ground cover of plants such as squash (Wilken, 1977).
Calorific value of Prosopis africana and Balanites aegyptiaca wood: relationships with tree growth, wood density and rainfall gradients in the West African Sahel
Prosopis africana and Balanites aegyptiaca are native tree species in the West African Sahel and provide wood for fuel, construction and other essential products. A provenance/progeny test of each species was established at one relatively dry site in Niger, and evaluated at 13 years. Gross calorific value of the wood was determined for a random sample of trees in each test: gross CV and CVm3 = gross calorific value in MJ kg-1 and MJ m-3, respectively. The major objectives were to determine if gross CV was positively correlated with wood density and tree growth, and if gross CV and/or CVm3 varied with rainfall gradients in the sample region. Provenances were grouped into a drier and more humid zone, and correlations were computed among all trees and separately in each zone. Results indicated that gross CV was not significantly correlated with density in either species. Gross CV was positively correlated with growth of pafricana (but not B. aegyptiaca) only in the drier zone. Gross CVm3 was positively correlated with growth of both species, and the correlations were stronger in the drier zone. Multiple regressions with provenance latitude, longitude and elevation indicated that provenance means for gross CV increased, in general, from the drier to the more humid zones. Regressions with gross CVm3 were not significant. Results are compared with earlier research reports from the provenance/progeny tests and with other tropical hardwood species; and practical implications are presented for tree improvement and conservation programs in the region.