Cultivating Interest in Allanblackia

Tony Simons, ICRAF, KenyaSII Training Course, October 2006

1.Planting

2.Managing

3.Trials

4.Pilot tree planting

Cultivating Interest in Allanblackia

1. Planting

1.What to plant (cuttings, seedlings, size)

2.Where to plant (farm, forest, community land)(shade/sun)

3. How to plant (design, planting holes, timing)

4. Motivation to plant

Years to fruit

Size of tree Multiplication rate per year

Seeds 10-12 20-30m 5000

Rooted cuttings

- Tree stump

3-4 4-8m 200

Rooted cuttings

- Mother block

3-4 5-8m 4000

Marcots 1-2 4-6m 20

Grafts 2-3 3-4m 100

Young tree with fruits

4.0m height12cm dbh5 years20 fruits

Where to plant?

Wet site Dry site

no yes

Planting grafted seedlings

Field planting designs

1. Single scattered trees (in crop fields, mixed tree systems, enrichment)

2. Line planting (borders, contours, crop fields)

3. Block planting (corner of farm, under-utilised land, community land)

Single treebroad crown

Block of treesnarrow crown

Single treenarrow crown

Block of treesnarrow crown

Single treebroad crown

Single treenarrow crown

Allanblackia

2. Management of trees

We have no concrete information on Allanblackia needs

- spacing- thinning- watering- pruning- fertilising- shading- microsymbionts

- What can we learn from similar species?- What is our expert opinion?- What do we want to investigate as we scale up?

2. Management of trees

Similar species

Botanically – Clusiaceae (e.g. Garcinia)

Phytogeographically –Treculia

Tree form – Durio

Fruit size – Pouteria, Artocarpus

Durio zibethinus

6m x 6m spacing

Annona

Manilkara

Treculia africana

Artocarpus heterophyllus

Kilograms of fertilizer per hectare of crop land

      119 to 4,800

      63 to 118

      26 to 62

      5.00 to 25

      0 to 4.99

Cameroon – 4 kg/haGhana – 3 kg/haNigeria – 9 kg/haTanzania – 10kg/ha

Nutrient content (kg per ha) for cocoa and AB

1 - Ghana national cocoa average (Joeffre, 2006)

2 – Allanblackia stuhlmanii average of 12 fruit; (Munjuga & Mwaura, unpubl.)

assumes 625 AB trees per ha, 30 fruit per tree, 3 fruit per kg seeds

  N P K TotalsCombined

Totals

Cocoa

Seeds 21.1 8.6 30.8 60.5

127Pods 14 4.2 48.3 66.5

AB

Seeds 5 0.86 1.43 7.29

29Pods 15.3 0.96 5.46 21.72 23%

Yellowing in wildings

- No fine roots- mycorhizae?

N P K

Green 1.63% 0.098% 1.58%

Yellow 1.3% 0.14% 0.83%

Evaluation trials

Trials cost in terms of both time and money, so:

• Why is the trial needed?

• How many treatments do I need/have?

• What do you plan to measure? How often?

• Has anyone else researched this before?

• How long is the trial envisaged to last?

• What will the trial lead to?

• Can it be done satisfactorily on farm?

Advantages of work on station • Ease of access, more frequent monitoring• Nursery is usually closer, planting done quicker• Better control of the conditions (water, weeds, etc)• Need for fewer replicates as less variable site• Better security (theft, interference, fire)• Fewer constraints on what is permissible• Gain understanding before going on farm• Trials can be larger and/or more complicated• Visitors can see many trials in one place• Often historical records (field and climate)• May have a conservation role (don’t over play)

Disadvantages of work on station

• May be unrepresentative of farmers’ conditions

- lead to false conclusions for on farm work

- farmers don’t relate to it

- the control treatment may be misleading

• Can be expensive to maintain

• Researchers can be reluctant to close trials

• Default time fillers for labourers

Types of trials

A. Species trials

B. Species/provenance trials

C. Provenance tests

D. Provenance/family trials

E. Family (progeny) tests

F. Clonal trials

G. Management trials

Provenance tests

• expect 2-5 fold differences between provenances

• ensure seedlot has broad genetic base

(>30 parent trees)

• depending on objectives and species, then

need 100-400 trees

• is the material well documented?

• can you get more seed if it is needed?

• do you plan to convert the trial to a seed stand?

• where most G x E tests are done (interpret/use?)

• hard to do on farm

Family (progeny) tests

• Used for calculating genetic parameters (s.e.)

- these are age, site, population, trait specific

• Used to identify best families (backward seln - cso)

• Used to identify next parents (forward seln)

• Used for phenology studies, breeding system

• Require >30 families, many more for family seln

• Generally require >20 trees per family

Clonal trials

• To observe clonal differences for selection

• To determine clonal repeatability

• To determine any “c” effects

• Can be used for clonal seed orchards, if rogue

• Can be used to set up mother blocks, if rogue

• Good for mating system experiments

Clonal Trials

Fruit yield per clone of D. edulis planted 2000, Cameroon.

0

2

4

6

8

10

DE/M/102 DE/M/6 DE/M/79 DE/M/83 DE/M/86 DE/M/9 DE/M/98

Clone ID

Fru

it Y

ield

(kg

)

Frt_02 Frt_03 Frt_04

Mean fruit weight per clone of D. edulis, Cameroon.

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Clone ID

Fru

it M

ea

n W

eig

ht

(gra

ms

) Mean Frt Wt_02 Mean Wt Frt_03 Mean Frt Wt_04

Square plots (measured trees/total)

3 x 3 (1/9)4 x 4 (4/16)

5 x 5 (9/25)

6 x 6 (16/36)7 x 7 (25/49)

8 x 8 (36/64)

Management trials

• careful to ensure relevance to on-farm conditions

• can investigate individual factors and interactions:

- spacing- thinning- watering- pruning- fertilising- shading- microsymbionts- topworking, grafting, budding- nursery carry-over experiments

It is desirable if you can carry your blocking through

from the nursery to the field.

Who is the farmer?

Farmer surveys, Tanzania, TFCG (Aug 2004)• 5 villages around Amani Nature Reserve• all 110 households surveyed know the tree in Msambu• 79% of farmers have trees on their farms

21% no trees60% 1-10 trees14% 11-20 trees 5% > 20 trees

• only one farmer raising seedlings• 83% willing to plant if seedlings were available (at price US$0.05 to US$0.20)• all villages had small-scale nurseries • other tree species included Artocarpus, Cedrela, Grevillea• most seedlings sell for US$0.10 to US$0.25, coffee up to US$0.50• farmers who wanted to raise Allanblackia seedlings included:

17% sell all seedlings raised26% only raise enough to plant on their farms52% plant on-farm and sell excess5% undecided

TARGET AREA = 200,000 farmers

Reach with info and germplasmSay 60%

% who test or adopt

% of early adopters ortesters

On a single farm

Maximumfinal areato Allanblackia

First testarea

Secondexpansionarea

Thirdexpansion area

calculate

Village tree planting launch May 2006, Tanzania

Initial tree planting in areas

Where communities already

sensitised in collection of

seeds

Presided over by government officials- Explained well to communities

District Forest Officer

Did first Allanblackia planting

Then farmers dispersed to their farms to do the same

Farmer planting Allanblackia in his/her own farm

- Paid US$0.15 after 1st year- Paid US$0.15 after 2nd year

- only if surviving

- advised farmers they are part of research effort, not for free

Involvement of local

Forest officers is

important

Ghana planting - FORIG

AB planting in Ghana

First cuttings weanedGhana

Caution when transplanting

Don’t plant seedlings too early

Ideal seedling4 leaf nodes, > 20cm, no bent root, good root systemNo mycorhizae problem, no fungal leaf spot

Use 1 to 2 litre nursery bags

Can link up with other planting initiatives (e.g. Mars cocoa)

5-50 trees per ha30 fruit per tree1st harvest 4 yearsFull harvest 7 yearsUS$1.50 per tree per yearReplace 25-40 years

Vision of small-holder production

Vision

10m x 10m spacing

100 trees per ha

70% field survival

Average farmer 50 trees

Mix seedlings (%) & cuttings (%)

10-25m seedlings – fruit 12 years

4-8m cuttings – fruit 4 years

16 month old seedling plantedon Harrison Adoo’s farm

Ideal for field grafting with female scion at next rains

Integration in agroforestry systems

Task Timing Who? (and others e.g. Forest Dept)

1 Prepare nursery training materials Oct to Nov 05 ICRAF, ANR, TFCG, ARI, TAFORI

2 Training in nursery management Nov to Dec 05 ANR, TFCG, TAFORI, FM, ICA,

3 Prepare shaded nursery beds (3-4m2) Jan to Mar 06 Nursery operator

4 Collect and pre-treat seeds Dec 05 to Feb 06 ICRAF, ANR, TFCG, TAFORI, ARI

5 Distribute/ supervise sowing 15kgs pre-treated seeds Jan 06 to Mar 06 ANR, TFCG, TAFORI,Nursery operator

6 Water and monitor beds Mar 06 to Nursery operator, ANR, TFCG, TAFORI,

7 Check on progress and distribute polybags Mar 06 to Sep 06 ANR, TFCG, TAFORI,

8 Fill 200 polybags, prepare shaded 2-3 m2 shaded area Sep 06 & Mar 07 Nursery operator

9 Prick out germinants/emergents Sep 06 & Mar 07 Nursery operator; ANR, TFCG, TAFORI

10 Pay nursery operators on transplants (TSh 150) Oct 06 & Apr 07 ANR, TFCG, TAFORI,FM, INADES, ICA

11 Check on nursery progress Oct 06 onwards ANR, TFCG, TAFORI

12 Prepare cultivation guidelines Sep 06 ICRAF, ANR, TFCG, ARI, TAFORI

13 Identify and sensitise farmers to plant seedlings Nov to Dec 06 ANR, TFCG, TAFORI,FM, INADES, ICA

14 Collect and pay for seedlings (Tsh350) Mar 07 & Oct 07 ANR, TFCG, TAFORI,FM, INADES, ICA

15 Distribute seedlings, enter in agreements on subsidies Mar 07 & Oct 07 ANR, TFCG, TAFORI,FM, INADES, ICA

16 Supervise planting Mar 07 & Oct 07 ANR, TFCG, TAFORI

17 Monitor progress, back-up advice Mar 07 onwards ANR, TFCG, TAFORI,

18 Pay annual subsidy Mar & Oct 08 then annual x3

FM, INADES, ICA

Seedlings

seedlings cuttings total

2006 5000 5000

2007 50,000 2000 52,000

2008 100,000 10,000 110,000

2009 200,000 20,000 220,000

2010 50,000 50,000 100,000

2011 10,000 100,000 110,000

2012 10,000 100,000 110,000

2013 5000 200,000 205,000

2014 5000 200,000 205,000

2015 5000 300,000 305,000

2016 5000 200,000 205,000

total 455,000 1,182,000 1,637,000

Vegetative Propagation

Vegetative Propagation

- Great start, well done

- assumption 50% survival (??)

- start monitoring and recording (0-82 shoots)

- re-assess how many will produce sufficient cuttings

- next aspect is central stock plant area (where?)

- when harvest first cuttings

- build propagators 1 per 3 sprouting trees (where?)

- lot of follow-up required

- explain reasons better

Translate for Nigeria, Ghana

Prick out leaders to get more bushy resprouts and hence more cuttings

Don’t cut in dry season

or too high

or biggest tree

Research on establishment, niches

-Where do farmers plant them?

- Average number planted?

- survival (%) after 1st, 2nd, 3rd years

- growth (height and diameter)

- effect of propagule type on growth (form, root structure)

- effect of initial propagule size on growth

- effect of shade on growth