Improving Rural Livelihoods through Domestication of Indigenous Fruit Trees in the Parklands of the Sahel - Indigenous Fruit Trees in the Tropics: Domestication, Utilization and Commercialization - page 196

• T. indica : vigour, early fruit set, sweetness of the fruits, resistance to pests and

disease, long, straight pods (pod size), a large, round canopy with many
branches for greater fruit production, a large number of seeds, high pod
production, exocarp and fibres easily removable from the fruit pulp.

• V. paradoxa : vigour, early and annual fruit set, sweet fruits, high oil

content, resistance to pests and disease, freedom from Tapinanthus (a
parasitic plant) attacks, young tree, uniform crown.

• Z. mauritiana : vigour, early fruit set, sweet fruits, resistance to pests and

disease, small seeds, large round fruits, good fruit conservation, fewer thorns,
high fruit production, large canopy with many branches for greater fruit
production.

10.3.3 Vegetative propagation

The principal reason for using vegetative propagation is to capture and fix
desirable traits, or combinations of traits, of individual trees (Leakey and Newton,
1994). Because higher yields and better products are desired, vegetative
propagation is a useful tool for the domestication of indigenous fruit trees. The
adapted varieties and cultivars are propagated vegetatively to maintain their
desired characteristics, which would, if sexually propagated, be diluted over time
(Nyambo et al ., 2005). For example, preliminary results from ICRAF and its
research partners have shown that grafting can accelerate fruit precocity
(shortening the period to first fruiting) compared with plants produced by seed.
The fruiting period can be reduced from 20 to 6 years for Vitellaria paradoxa ,
from 6 to 3 years for Parkia biglobosa , from more than 10 years to 4 years for
Adansonia digitata , and from 2 years to 6 months for Ziziphus mauritiana .
In the Sahel, vegetative propagation of fruit trees is mostly done by grafting
or budding or using stem cuttings. A summary of successful methods for key
fruit tree species is given below.
Preliminary results from research in Senegal and Mali indicate that A.
digitata can be successfully grafted (with a survival rate of 85%) and multiplied
by cuttings. Top- and side-grafting give the best results, but top-grafting is
preferred as it is easier to do. A top-grafted plant in Mali started flowering 4
years after grafting.
According to Teklehaimanot (2004), cuttings of P. biglobosa are relatively
easy to root if they are obtained from terminal nodes and auxins are applied.
Tamarindus indica can be vegetatively propagated by stem cuttings, shield
and patch budding, grafting, air-layering or marcotting, and tissue culture
(Gunasena and Hughes, 2000). The easiest and cheapest method is by using stem
cuttings. The use of the growth regulator 3-indolebutyric acid (IBA) significantly
increased rooting. For patch budding, rootstocks from 6- to 9-month-old seedlings
should be grown in raised beds for large-scale multiplication. For grafting, although
top-cleft grafting is successful under Sahelian conditions, approach grafting may be
more successful (up to 85% success rate) (B. Kone, unpublished results).
Hall et al . (1996) reported that V. paradoxa can be propagated by root
suckers, grafting, budding, cuttings and tissue culture. The top-cleft grafting