Abstract
Faidherbia albida is an important agroforestry tree species widely distributed across parklands and agricultural systems in Africa. The demand to scale it up in similar agroecologies outside their natural distribution range in agricultural systems in Eastern Africa is increasing. The demand is caused by the observed enhancement of crop yields under mature F. albida trees canopies. There are around 132 provenances of F. albida in Africa all displaying differences in seed, germination and seedling growth characters and therefore recommending which provenance (s) for where is a big challenge. Therefore understanding seed morphology, germination and seedling growth of some provenances is an important step in helping identify which provenances could be proposed for establishment in Eastern Africa. The purpose of the study was to determine provenance variation in F. albida seeds morphological characteristics, germination and early seedling growth. Six provenances namely Chinzombo, Wagingombe, Taveta, Maseno, Lake Koka and Awassa were used in the study. The study revealed highly significant differences among provenances in all studied parameters except for seedling height at month 2 to 5. Highest variation among provenances in seed traits was observed in seed weight while seed thickness had the lowest variation. Overall mean germination among provenances was 70.2% varying from 32.7 to 93.3%. Significant correlation was found between seed length and collar diameter and between temperature and collar diameter. The observed variation will enable selection of provenances with desired traits for tree improvement and recommendation of specific provenances for different sites. It can be concluded that since the period of this study was short (5 months), further progeny tests should be undertaken on these provenances in the field over a longer period so as to obtain more information on the identified traits before a general conclusion is made. Key words: Agroforestry systems, germination capacity, germination energy, growth performances, integration, provenance variation, seed characters, seedling traits, selection
Highlights
Floriculture has attained the status of one of the most important high value agricultural industry in many developing as well as under-developed countries of the world
Planting of gladiolus corms during mid-April season can be well adopted by florists and farmers of Eastern Ethiopia. These observations fall in line with the findings of previous experiments on gladiolus (Abbasi et al, 2005; Sheela, 2008)
Summary
Floriculture has attained the status of one of the most important high value agricultural industry in many developing as well as under-developed countries of the world. Gladiolus is a popular bulbous cut flower and has great demand in international markets It is known as the queen of bulbous plants, which is valued for its good looking flower spikes (Chanda et al, 2000; Riaz et al, 2007). Its magnificent inflorescence with broad spectrum of colors, made it gorgeous as an important cut flower of United States and other flower trading centers of the world. Even though the climatic conditions of Ethiopia are quite ideal for growing gladiolus, due to lack of quality planting material and inadequacy of technical knowledge, it has not figured as an important commercial flower in Ethiopia. This research program was initiated with the objectives of testing the performance of gladiolus in the agro-climatic conditions of Haramaya University, which is situated in Eastern Ethiopia
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