Dynamic Plantations: Intraspecific Variability in Growth of Five Varieties of Ziziphus Mauritiana (Pomme du Sahel) and Development Trajectories in the Sahelian Region of Niger

Abstract, International Journal Of Current Engineering Sciences, 2017

Natural resources play a crucial role in terms of socio-economic life of people, especially in rural areas. In order to improve the living conditions of these populations, agro-forestry initiatives have been undertaken. In Niger, techniques of domestication of different agro forestry species have been undertaken, including cultivation of the jujube tree Ziziphus mauritiana Lam. This work aims to establish growth models of five Z. mauritiana cultivars that describe the growth of trees in their stands and identify the varieties that perform better. Experimentation was carried out in the field of arboriculture of the agro-sylvo-pastoral garden of INRAN in Maradi on an experimental design consisting of two (2) lines of each variety and each line consists of 19 plants. Thus 190 trees were planted and corresponding to 38 plants per variety. The study was carried out on five (5) improved jujube cultivars. Z. mauritiana trees were grafted with Indian strains. After three years of plantation, measurements were performed weekly and for 10 weeks on nine (9) single tree samples of each variety. Thus, for the monitoring of growth parameters, measurements were made on the height, diameter and two perpendicular diameters of the crowns of the plants. To establish the correlation between growth parameters and fruiting, fruit dynamics were followed at three individuals of each variety on a sample consisting of 20 flower buds. Indeed, the analysis of variance shows that there are no significant differences between varieties in terms of growth per week. However, the Seb variety shows an important vegetative development at the expense of fruit production, contrary to the variety Kaitlhi which produces many fruits but with a lower vegetative development. The Umran variety is characterized by the production of larger fruits but with lower growth in diameter. Both Gola and Ben Gurion varieties produce small fruit with larger diameter development at the collar. The study showed how varieties allocate resources during their development.