Vegetative Multiplication of Pterocarpus erinaceus in the Guinean Savannah Highlands (Adamaoua-Cameroon): Effect of Provenance and Arrangement of Stem Segments Cuttings
Abstract:
Pterocarpus erinaceus is one of the tree species found in the Guinean savannah highlands and in the Sudano-Sahelian zones of Cameroon, which have great potential for fodder, medicinal, cultural and commercial purposes. This species still lives in the wild and is overexploited. The main objective of this work is to evaluate the effect of the origin of the cuttings and their method of insertion into the substrate using a low-cost technique, stem segment cuttings (SSC). To carry out this work in the nursery, young stem shoots taken from the Figuil and Wack savannahs and kept cold until their arrival in the nursery were cut into 5 cm cuttings and then inserted vertically and obliquely into the rooting substrate. A split-plot experimental design with 4 replications was set up. The results show that the best provenance for SSC in relation to budding remains the Guinean high savannah zone (Wack), at 43.75 %, and that the oblique arrangement is the best for SSC budding (36.25 %). Satisfactory results for the origin*arrangement interaction of the cuttings were obtained for those from Wack associated with the oblique arrangement (47.5%). The greatest growth in height was obtained in the Wack SSCs (2.55 cm) with a significant ANOVA (0.001 < 0.01). The highest rooting percentage of the cuttings was recorded in the Wack cuttings (25.0 %) and the oblique position obtained a better rooting rate (16.25 %). It should be noted that the Guinean savannah highlands origin and the oblique position are better for the SSCs. These results show that it is possible to improve certain parameters in P. erinaceus by vegetative propagation.
