Towards a Domestication Strategy for Indigenous Fruit Trees in the Tropics - Indigenous Fruit Trees in the Tropics: Domestication, Utilization and Commercialization - page 29

WILD TREE SPECIES WITH
COMMERCIAL POTENTIAL

1. IMPROVEMENT
THROUGH MANAGEMENT
ON FARMS

2. MAJOR GENETIC
IMPROVEMENTS
THROUGH SCIENCE

PHASE 1
SELECTION BY FARMERS

• for domestic use

• for fulfilment of welfare needs

SELECTION AND
BREEDING RESEARCH
TO IMPROVE

• for low-input farming (low investment)

• for specific agroforestry systems

• for local markets

• for high product quality

• for high commercial value

• for high farmer inputs

• for intensive domestication

• for profitability

PHASE 2
PARTICIPATORY
DOMESTICATION
WITH FARMERS

DOMESTICATION FOR
COMMERCIAL MARKETS

AGROFORESTS

Fig. 2.1. Two pathways for the domestication of agroforestry tree products.

In practice, agroforestry plantings are often constrained by the lack of
genetically superior seed sources, the traditional source of planting stock
(Simons, 1996). Consequently, one of the first decisions in developing a
domestication strategy for a particular species has to be whether to use seed
and reproductive processes or vegetative propagation to achieve genetic
improvements. Foresters have generally adopted seed-based tree breeding
approaches, while horticulturalists have adopted clonal vegetative propagation
and the development of cultivars. The following economic and biological
situations have been identified as favouring a clonal approach (Leakey and
Simons, 2000; Akinnifesi et al ., 2006):

● The occurrence of individual trees in a wild population, which have a

rare combination of traits such as large fruit size, sweetness, precocity,
early fruiting, delayed or extended fruiting season and desirable kernel
characteristics.