Phenotypic Evaluation of Mother Trees and their Effects on Seed Emergence and Growth Dynamics of African Locust Bean Seedlings in Nursery

This study was carried out in order to identify the most productive in term of seeds between African locust bean trees aged 10-29 years, 30-50 years and 51 years and older. It aims also to identify which one can guarantee better emergence and growth of young P.B seedlings in the nursery. These plants were chosen according to the availability of fruit and their accessibility. For the emergence and growth tests, a complete randomized block design with three replicates, each with three treatments was installed. The SPSS v21 software was used for statistical analysis, with a significance level of 5%.The results show that the dendrometry and productivity parameters are better when the plants are at least 30 years old (DBH > 44 cm). Indeed, seeds from trees aged 30 - 50 years significantly improved seed emergence by giving a rate of 70.33%±7.23. Plants growth was not significantly affected by trees age

Reactions of cashew grafted seedlings to different formulas of mineral and organic fertilizers as bottom dressing in plantation

The yield of raw cashew nuts in Benin remains relatively low, mainly because of the planting material used by farmers. Indeed, cashew tree producers use the nuts all-from previous years for the installation of plantations. The use of grafted seedlings is today an alternative, to improve the yield of new plantations. However, grafted plants are fragile and don’t survive easily the dry season of the year in which they are planted, with a high mortality rate due to their fragility. This research conducted on tropical ferruginous soils in Central Benin aims to evaluate the reaction of grafted cashew seedlings to different formulas of mineral and organic fertilizers applied as bottom fertilization. For the study, a Randomized Complete Block Design with three repetitions was installed. Each repetition consists of 11 treatments. The generalized linear model (glm) was used to perform the analysis of variance with SPSS v21 software which to compare the effects of the treatments. The organo-mineral formulas N40P80K72 + 2 kg of poultry droppings and N40P80 + 2 kg of poultry droppings applied as bottom manure allowed for better results in terms of recovery and growth parameters of grafted plants installed in the field. These fertilizer formulas allowed the grafted cashew plants to survive 85% and 80% respectively after installation. They also improved height growth, vigor and the ability to emit many leaves. To reduce the mortality rate of cashew transplants, these fertilizer formulas can be suggested to growers for the establishment of new plantations