Methodological approach to indigenous fruit trees breeding: case of Dacryodes edulis (G. Don.) H. J. Lam.(Burseraceae) in Cameroon

• Makueti Josephine Therese1*, Tchoundjeu Zacharie1, Van Damme Patrick2,3, Kalinganire Antoine4, Asaah Ebenezar5, Tsobeng Alain1

1. World Agroforestry Centre, PO Box. 16317, Yaoundé, Cameroon
2. Department of Plant Production, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Laboratory of Tropical and Subtropical Agriculture and Ethnobotany, University of Ghent, 9000 Ghent, Belgium
3. Faculty of Tropical AgriSciences, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Kamycka 129, Prague 6-Suchdol, 165 21, Czech Republic
4. World Agroforestry Centre, ICRAF-WCA/Sahel, BPE 5118, Bamako, Mali.
5. World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) Sierra Leone, 32A Wilkinson Road, PO Box 210, Freetown, Sierra Leone

 

Very little work has been done forthe varietal improvement of indigenous fruit trees. Controlled cross pollination tests were conducted on Dacryodes edulis to assess the influence of the origin of the male parent and the type of flower that produced pollen used for fertilization on the fruiting efficiency of 14 well-known females’ accessions from three provenances.

The crossbreeding test was performed following a full nested mating design. The experimental design included provenance as a fixed factor, treatment as within-subject (i.e. repeated measures) fixed factor and plant individual as a random factor (subject). The results showed that the fruiting index that determines the species’ yield varies significantly (p = 0.010) with the combined actions of the three factors studied which were (i) the provenance of the male parent; (ii) the pollen type used for hand fertilization (pure male or hermaphrodite) and (iii) the female parent status.Six best combinations originated from Boumnyebel and Makenene provenances, characterized by high fruit-setting rate and the fruiting index (˃70% and ˃50% respectively), then by low fruit-dropping rate after fruit set (˂20%) were identified. Although we did not observe increasing in fruit size as compare to breeding in Citrus or Ziziphus species, the process of controlled cross-pollination investigated in this study significantly increased the fruit set. This could help in controlling the early fruit drop which negatively impacts thespecies’ yield.Thereafter, control-pollinated seedlings (F1) obtained from this study and established as progeny trials will be vulgarized within agro-ecological zones and/ormultiplied vegetatively for clonal and futurecultivars development trials.

Journal Name: International Journal of Agronomy and Agricultural Research (IJAAR)

Publication Name: International Network For Natural Sciences (INNSPUB)

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