Domestication of Allanblackia floribunda: vegetative propagation by leafy stem cuttings in the Niger delta region of Nigeria

Allanblackia floribunda, one of the indigenous fruit tree species of West, Central, and East Africa, is in danger of extinction. In spite of its uses as livestock feed, bait to trap animals, firewood etc, the species had in the past received little attention. Information on the vegetative propagation of A. floribunda is currently unavailable in published forms. Studies were carried out at ICRAF nursery located at Onne, Rivers State, Nigeria to determine the rooting success of single node leafy stem cuttings of A. floribunda. In 2005, four fruiting female trees were selected from farmers' fields located at Onne. The treatments consisted of softwood cuttings (re-growth) collected from three felled female trees marked as T1, T2, and T3, and hardwood cuttings collected from canopy of mature tree (control), marked as T4. The cuttings were trimmed and placed on white river sand in non-mist propagators for 11 months. Rooted cuttings were potted, gradually hardened off, allowed to initiate new growth and planted out in a gene bank. Results of the experiment demonstrated that rooting ability of A. floribunda basically depended on genotypes. Cuttings set on river sand substrate took 3 months to root. The best cultivar with the most rooting ability had over 50% rooting in 8 months. This is encouraging since seeds of A. floribunda require 8 to 12 months to achieve 0.01% germination. There was significant linear relationship between rooting percent and time in all four trees. This information is important as it helps to encourage farmers to domesticate A. floribunda. Trees 2 and 3 (T2 and T3) are recommended to farmers. Participatory tree domestication is being used in trees and market theme of ICRAF to develop A. floribunda and other fruit and medicinal trees for rural farmers in an effort to contribute to the overall nutritional well being and reduce poverty of rural communities in Africa.

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DOI:

https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.1.1866.1285

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