Clonal propagation of Detarium microcarpum from root cuttings

Abstract

Detarium microcarpum is a valuable tree species for fuelwood, timber, food and medicine in sub-Saharan Africa. However, its population is dwindling due to overexploitation, its seedlings' low survival rate and slow growth. Vegetative propagation might enhance both survival and growth, but to date a successful clonal method does not exist for D. microcarpum. We conducted four experiments to examine the effects of propagation environment (high versus low humidity), cutting length and diameter, alignment of root segments (horizontal versus vertical) and distance from the root collar of donors on the regeneration ability of root segments collected from field-grown D. microcarpum trees in Burkina Faso. The size of root segments significantly affected their regeneration ability, while alignment had no effect. Sprouting was possible from 10 and 20-cm long segments of 15-60 mm diameter with 7-43% sprouting efficiency and multiple shoots while 5 cm long segments were unsuitable with 0-3% sprouting efficiency. Cuttings maintained at low humidity produced larger diameter sprouts than those in greenhouse. All cuttings showed strong polarity with most of the shoots developing at the proximal end. Rootlings from 20 cm root segments produced more new roots (0.62 ± 0.08 g) than those from 10 cm segments (0.34 ± 0.09 g), but they were similar for sprout and leaf growth. We conclude that lateral roots of field-grown mature trees can be used to produce rootlings in a nursery. Since this study is the first attempt to propagate D. microcarpum from root cuttings, further investigations are required to optimize the technique.

VEGETATIVE PROPAGATION Of VITEX DONIANA SWEET fROM ROOT SEGMENT CuTTINGS

“…Thus, mastering of vegetative propagation by RSC can bring real satisfaction to local communities and enable them to stabilize their favorite tree characters. This technique requires very few tools and almost no training for rural people (Ruchala, 2002;Bellefontaine, 2005;Beyl, 2008;Meunier et al, 2008;Ky-Dembélé et al, 2010;Bellefontaine, 2010;Sanoussi et al, 2012). RSC is currently the most suitable tool to propagate elite trees with advantageous phenotypic and genotypic characters (Nsibi et al, 2003;Stenvall et al, 2005 and.…”

Optimizing the size of root cutting in Melia volkensii Grke for improving clonal propagation and production of quality planting stock

“…For example, Ede et al (1997) reported the importance of root size (whether > 5 mm of diameter of root cut edge or not) and the position where the root was obtained. Ky-Dembele et al (2010) also reported significant effect of root size (> 10 cm of length and 15 mm of diameter) and no effect of root alignment on succession of root cutting. These studies indicate that optimum condition for root cutting should be considered in accordance with root configuration or other attributes of the target species.…”

“…The effect of root size on the formation frequency of adventitious buds has been reported in some species [for example, Actinidia chinensis (Lawes and Sim 1980), Prunus avium (Ghani and Cahalan, 1991), Detarium microcarpum (Ky-Dembele et al, 2010)], and the importance of nutritive conditions correspond to root size in some of them. In M. volkensii, starch content tended to be high in roots forming adventitious buds (Figure 6d-g and Table 1).…”

“…Therefore, other easy and costeffective method for clonal propagation is needed for M. volkensii. Root cutting is one of the general clonal propagation method, and it's use have been reported in various species such as Populus tremuloides (Schier, 1974;Snedden et al, 2010), Populus tremula×Populus tremuloides (Stenvall et al, 2004), Paulownia tomentosa, Paulownia fortunei (Ede et al, 1997), Prunus avium (Ghani and Cahalan, 1991) and Detarium microcarpum (Ky-Dembele et al, 2010). These studies have identified the effects of some factors on the succession of root cutting.…”

Espèces lianescentes à fruits comestibles du Togo

“…Apparemment aucune donnée sur le mode de régénération sexué ou asexué de ces espèces lianescentes n'est disponible, alors que, en Afrique, depuis quelques années, les modes de régénération de nombreuses espèces fruitières en voie de domestication ont été étudiés [44][45][46][47]. Le port lianescent de ces espèces constituerait à lui seul un handicap important pour sa valorisation.…”