Vegetative propagation by cutting and air layering of three agroforestry species in Burkina Faso
The insufficient knowledge on the regeneration of wild fruit trees is a major constraint to the domestication of these in the Sahelian countries subjected to a long dry season. Stem cuttings, root cuttings and air layering trials were carried out on Balanites aegyptiaca, Sclerocarya birrea and Diospyros mespiliformis specie. The results show, after 4 months of trials, that the root cutting test of S. birrea gives rooting rates of 12 % for cuttings planted vertically and 8 % rooting rates for cuttings planted horizontally in soil substrate. However, differences observed between treatments are not significant (P <0.05). Air layering test was given a positive result for all three species, mainly for B. aegyptiaca with 65 % and 72 % success rate respectively for plant marcotted at the medial and basal level of the stem. The differences observed between treatments are significant (P <0.05). The success rates on S. birrea are 48 % and 45 % respectively for plant marcotted at the medial and basal level of the stem. However, no significant differences were observed between the two treatment (P <0.05). D. mespiliformis recorded success rates of 28 % for plant marcotted at the basal level and 12 % success rate for the plant marcotted at the medial level of stem. The differences in rooting between treatments are highly significant (P <0.001) for this species. The rooted layers planted at the research station present a survival rate of 52.5 % for B. aegyptiaca and 92 % for S. birrea after 2 years monitoring.