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