Does geographic origin dictate ecological strategies in Acacia senegal (L.) Willd.? Evidence from carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes

Gray, Alan; Odee, David W.; Cavers, Stephen; Wilson, J.; Telford, Annika; Grant, Fiona; Diouf, M.; Ochieng, John; Grant, Helen; Stott, Andrew

doi:10.1007/s11104-013-1593-4

Cited by 20 publications

(33 citation statements)

References 48 publications

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“…However, the ability to access deeper soil water and nutrients than crops contributes to improved nutrient cycling and increases the overall potential productivity of the system relative to monocropping with short-lived, shallow rooted crops. Stable isotope studies of Acacia senegal suggest plasticity in water use efficiency strategies, such that young shallow-rooted seedlings have high water use efficiency, but that this control is relaxed in older plants as their tap roots reach ground water (Gray et al, 2013).…”

Section: Tree Root Distribution and Root Activitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Root distribution of trees and crops: competition and/or complementarity.

Noordwijk¹,

Lawson²,

Soumaré³

et al. 2015

Tree-Crop Interactions: Agroforestry in a Changing Climate

113

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Section: Tree Root Distribution and Root Activitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Root distribution of trees and crops: competition and/or complementarity.

Noordwijk¹,

Lawson²,

Soumaré³

et al. 2015

Tree-Crop Interactions: Agroforestry in a Changing Climate

113

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“…Authors also reported that the species when grown in areas with more precipitation does not produce gum even in the dry season. Recently, Gray et al (2013) reported that provenances of A. senegal that yielded more gum had low water use efficiency (WUE). This suggests that low WUE is actually associated to increased gum production.…”

Section: Genetic Improvement Of a Senegalmentioning

confidence: 99%

Study of quantitative genetics of gum arabic production complicated by variability in ploidy level of Acacia senegal (L.) Willd

Diallo

Ræbild

Kjær

2015

Tree Genetics & Genomes

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Gum arabic is an important international commodity produced by trees of Acacia senegal across Sahelian Africa, but documented results of breeding activities are limited. The objective of this study was to provide reliable estimates of quantitative genetic parameters in order to shed light on the breeding potential for improvement of gum yield and quality. For this purpose, we measured growth on 617 offspring from 60 open-pollinated trees after 18 years, and gum yield and quality based on two seasons, 18 and 19 years after establishment. Genotyping with eight microsatellite markers revealed that progenies consisted of both diploid and polyploid trees, and growth, gum yield, and gum quality varied substantially among ploidy level, populations, and progenies. Analysis of molecular variance and estimates of outcrossing rate supported that trees within open-pollinated families of diploids were half sibs, while the open-pollinated families of polyploids showed low variation within families. The difference in sibling relationship observed between ploidy levels complicated estimation of genetic parameters. However, based on the diploid trees, we conclude that heritability in gum arabic production is low to high with presence of high levels of additive genetic variation, although the genetic parameters could only be estimated with fairly high standard error. The findings suggest that improvement through breeding can increase the productivity of A. senegal substantially. However, the results also stress the importance of testing ploidy levels of selected material and use of genetic markers to qualify the assumptions in the quantitative genetic analysis.

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“…Afforestation plans to re-establish vegetation cover with N-fixing species such as Acacia species in degraded areas (Larwanou et al 2010) will depend on accurate knowledge of their growth and productivity and their performance in the environment selected. For example, results on seed, seedling and tree traits show that A. senegal from clay provenances can be quite distinct from those originating from sandy soil areas (Raddad et al 2005Raddad 2007;Gray et al 2013). Increasing the chances of producing and successfully establishing vigorous seedlings is a vital first step in improving re-vegetation .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Plant adaptation in arid climates generally involves great tolerance to drought, highly efficient utilization of water and nutrients, and greater biomass allocation to roots (Otieno et al 2005;Wu et al 2008;Gray et al 2013). Knowledge about shoot and root responses to water and nutrient stress may provide basic information for assessing differences among species in productivity, survival and distribution, and could shed more light on the functioning of dry-land ecosystems (Otieno et al 2005).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Hurter (referee's contribution). However, we have retained the use of A. senegal and A. seyal here for continuity with previous literature and general communication, and because of the widespread familiarity of the African people with the former names (Gray et al 2013). Our objectives were: (1) to study whether the mechanisms by which nutrients affect plant growth at the seedling stage operate differently when water availability varies, and (2) to look for differences in the growth strategies of the two species in early stages.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Effects of water stress and substrate fertility on the early growth of Acacia senegal and Acacia seyal from Ethiopian Savanna woodlands

Merine

Rodríguez-García

Alı́a

et al. 2014

Trees

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Key message Acacia senegal and Acacia seyal present different drought stress coping mechanisms that are independent of substrate fertility. Higher substrate fertility increased aboveground plant growth, even with low watering. Abstract The potential of native African tree species for agriculture and forestry have not yet been thoroughly investigated. In this experiment, we studied the early growth of Acacia senegal and Acacia seyal plants in an experiment with two substrates of contrasting fertility (low/ high) and two watering frequency regimes (low = 24.40 l/m 2 per month, high = 48.80 l/m 2 per month). Our objectives were: (1) to study whether the mechanisms by which nutrients affect plant growth at the seedling stage operate differently when water availability varies, and (2) to look for differences in the growth strategies of the two species in early stages. Higher substrate fertility increased aboveground plant growth at the expense of roots in both water regimes. Though water stress significantly limited growth under both soil conditions, substrate fertility effects were relatively higher in plants with low water supply than in those with high water supply. However, even with low resources the root-to-shoot ratio was between 0.7 and 0.9, plants presented adequate nutrition and no mortality was observed. This indicates opportunistic mechanisms for water and nutrient use. A. seyal showed the lowest negative pre-dawn stem water potential value (-0.15 MPa) and shed nearly all leaves in the hottest month of the assay, which suggests a different drought avoidance strategy and adaptation to water stress than A. senegal. Both species can be produced successfully in local nursery conditions and can survive and thrive with low watering. The study also demonstrated that fast growing genotypes can be effectively isolated in nursery conditions.

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Does geographic origin dictate ecological strategies in Acacia senegal (L.) Willd.? Evidence from carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes

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Cited by 20 publications

References 48 publications

Root distribution of trees and crops: competition and/or complementarity.

Root distribution of trees and crops: competition and/or complementarity.

Study of quantitative genetics of gum arabic production complicated by variability in ploidy level of Acacia senegal (L.) Willd

Effects of water stress and substrate fertility on the early growth of Acacia senegal and Acacia seyal from Ethiopian Savanna woodlands

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