Reproductive Phenology of Mangifera indica L. and Persea americana Mill in Brazzaville (Republic of Congo)

Abstract

Mangifera indica L. and Persea americana Mill are two species of fruit trees for food use. In Brazzaville, they seem to be the most representative and cover the whole city. The phenological study of these two species was carried out throughout the city of Brazzaville. The objective of the study is to improve the phenological knowledge of these species. The methods used are based on field surveys. The selected, marked and geolocated trees are monitored by the observation method for two years. The various results obtained show that flowering in Mangifera indica L. appears early in January. It evolves progressively and becomes visible in all sites during the dry season, between June and July, then decreases in August. The peak of flowering is observed in July with 100% of plants recorded. Fruiting starts in March, progresses gradually in terms of number of trees and reaches its peak between August and September with 80% of trees recorded. However, in Persea americana Mill, flowering starts early in March and progresses over time until it reaches its peak between July and August with 80% of trees recorded. Fruiting is observed from August onwards and lasts until December, January and February, during the rainy season. The evolution of these different phenophases shows phenological characteristics common to these trees, marked by phenological asynchrony, variation and interaction. These results highlight the effect of the seasons on the phenological evolution of the species studied.