Nowadays, attention is being paid to exploration of possibilities of exploiting new and under-utilized plant resources with the aim of meeting the growing societal needs. Calotropis procera is one among the many under-utilized species despite its many economic and ecological uses. This study was done to characterize the phenology of the species and determine its potential for domestication for wool production. Phenological data was used to generate charts that depicted the flowering and fruiting phenophases for three provenances for four seasons. The data was subjected to Test of Homogeneity of Variances to isolate significant differences in study parameters. Spearman rank pair-wise correlations between wet seasons and flowering were done. Flowering intensity in different months of the year was significantly different (p<0.05) with clear-cut flowering phenophases. Flowering and fruiting durations and active phases were significantly longer and high (p<0.001) during the wet seasons and spearman rank correlations between wet seasons and flowering ranged from 0.89 to 0.96 and were highly significant (rs, pair- wise correlations, p<0.0001). A very low flower to fruit ratio was recorded. The study concluded that C. procera can do well as a plantation crop and has a high potential for production of wool. The strongest impediment to flowering and fruiting was periodic attack by Aphis nerii. It is recommended that propagation seeds for C. procera should be sourced from the local provenances to reduce the effects of seed source transfer distance.
Tag: fruiting
Growth and profitability performance of three accessions grafts and seedlings of Tamarindus indica (Fabaceae) planted in the Groundnut Basin of Senegal
Tamarindus indica is a priority local forest food tree in the Sahel. It is an important source of income for many rural families. It is still in the wild, apart from a few specimens of the accessions recently introduced into the landscape of Sahelian villages. The objective of the present study is to investigate the performance and efficiency of three accession grafts and the effect of grafting to shorten the juvenal growth and fruiting periods for improving woody species diversity in agroforestry parklands and diversifying the sources of income of small producers. The design was a randomized complete block with 5 replications. Each block was composed of 5 grafts of three accessions (Niger 309, TB3, Sweet Thailand) and 5 seedlings propagated from wild tree seeds. Growth parameters (height, collar diameter, canopy width and primary branch number) were measured on all plants. The evaluation of fruiting potential was made on 5 plants of each accession in the first year and 10 plants in the second year. Cost–benefit analysis were carried out to assess the financial viability and economic profitability of planting these accessions of T. indica. The results show that Sweet Thailand accession had the best growth performance compared to Niger 309 and TB3. Fruiting of the three accession grafts started in the second year after planting, in contrast to seedlings which started to bear fruit from the fourth year. TB3 grafts had higher average fruit production in 2017 and 2018 (120 and 640 kg ha−1, respectively). The cost–benefit analysis shows that planting of the three accession grafts is financially viable and economically profitable. The results of the present study indicated that planting these three accessions might play an important role in food security, the resilience of small-scale farmers and the improvement of biodiversity in the landscape.