Abstract
Shea nuts play an important role in food security for rural folks within sub-Sahara Africa, serving as the main source of income for many people living in Northern Ghana. Unfortunately, the full economic potential of the Sheanut tree has not been fully realized due to the difficulty involved in its domestication. This difficulty in vegetatively propagating sheanut trees has greatly hindered its cultivation and the realization of its true economic potential. Two experiments were conducted to investigate the effects of rooting media and varying indole 3-butyric acid (IBA) concentrations on adventitious root formation in cuttings taken from coppiced sheanut trees. Results indicated that 3000 ppm produced significantly (p 0.05) better rooting (57.5%) than 5000 ppm (30%), 7000 ppm (45.0%) and the control (7.5%). Although the levels of soluble sugars (SS) and total free phenols (TFP) in the cutting were significantly (p 0.05) higher at the end of the experiment (after IBA treatment) compared to the start (prior to IBA treatment), the SS and TFP trends observed did not clearly explain the rooting differences found between the IBA levels investigated. Callus formation was significantly (p 0.05) higher (35.0%) in the control (no IBA). Generally, callus formation decreased with increasing IBA concentration. In the rooting media experiment, rooting was significantly (p 0.05) higher in the rice husk medium (35.0%) compared to that in the palm fiber (18.3%), saw dust (14.1%) and top soil (16.7%) media.
Highlights
The economic and social importance of the shea nut tree (Vitellaria paradoxa) to the local people in sub-Saharan Africa cannot be emphasized enough
The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of rooting media and varying hormone concentrations on adventitious root formation in cuttings taken from coppiced sheanut trees
Cuttings treated with 3000 ppm indole 3-butyric acid (IBA) rooted best (57.5%) with the control rooting the least (7.5%) (Table 1)
Summary
The economic and social importance of the shea nut tree (Vitellaria paradoxa) to the local people in sub-Saharan Africa cannot be emphasized enough. Shea nuts play an important role in food security for rural folks within sub-Sahara Africa. It serves as the main source of livelihood for many people living in Northern Ghana [1], especially since it becomes available during the period of food scarcity (April to July each year). With all the social and economic importance of the sheanut tree, its nuts are still collected from the wild because sheanut trees have a long juvenile phase (period before flowering), that lasts anywhere from 10 to 25 years deterring farmers from cultivating the plant. The difficulty involved in vegetatively propagating sheanut trees has limited the cultivation of superior high-yielding and early-maturing types, and has hindered its domestication
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