No abstract

Shea nuts play an important role in food security for rural folks within sub-Sahara Africa, serving as the main source of income for many people living in Northern Ghana. Unfortunately, the full economic potential of the Sheanut tree has not been fully realized due to the difficulty involved in its domestication. This difficulty in vegetatively propagating sheanut trees has greatly hindered its cultivation and the realization of its true economic potential. Two experiments were conducted to investigate the effects of rooting media and varying indole 3-butyric acid (IBA) concentrations on adventitious root formation in cuttings taken from coppiced sheanut trees. Results indicated that 3000 ppm produced significantly (p < 0.05) better rooting (57.5%) than 5000 ppm (30%), 7000 ppm (45.0%) and the control (7.5%). Although the levels of soluble sugars (SS) and total free phenols (TFP) in the cutting were significantly (p < 0.05) higher at the end of the experiment (after IBA treatment) compared to the start (prior to IBA treatment), the SS and TFP trends observed did not clearly explain the rooting differences found between the IBA levels investigated. Callus formation was significantly (p < 0.05) higher (35.0%) in the control (no IBA). Generally, callus formation decreased with increasing IBA concentration. In the rooting media experiment, rooting was significantly (p < 0.05) higher in the rice husk medium (35.0%) compared to that in the palm fiber (18.3%), saw dust (14.1%) and top soil (16.7%) media.

Cashew (Anacardium occidentale L) is an important cash crop cultivated by about 3 million households in Africa and serves as the livelihood for many African farmers, especially Ghana. Despite the importance of cashew as a commodity crop with increasing cultivation in Northern Ghana, the crop is challenged with problems such as, low and variable nut yields, low kernel out turn percentage and susceptibility to insect pests as a result of establishing cashew farms with unselected seeds. In order to address the challenges, the Cocoa Research Institute of Ghana established a clonal evaluation trial in Northern Ghana (dry savanna vegetation) to indentify promising clones for subsequent distribution to cashew farmers as an interim measure. The trials consisted of ten different clones planted in Randomised Completed Block Design (RCBD) with four replicates. Parameters evaluated were yield, yield efficiency, nut weight, percentage out turn and canopy area. Data analysis was performed with Gen Stat version 11.0 and the results revealed significant differences (P < 0.05) in the performance of the clones in all the parameters considered. Such differences allowed the identification of promising clones over other clones tested. A few clones combined two or three traits (parameters) which were significantly different from the rest of the clones evaluated. No single clone was found to be significantly different from the rest in terms of all the parameters considered. However a greater proportion of the clones were found to produce yields far above average yields recorded by unselected cashew trees in farmers' fields. Clones W266 and W278 seem outstanding for most of the parameters considered, though not exclusive.

The shea is an economic tree found in West and Central Africa with huge industrial and domestic uses for the butter. However, its rapid multiplication has been hampered by its slow growth and long gestation period. Factors that affect vegetative propagation are physiological, biochemical and environmental. A factorial experiment was carried out to study the type of structure(s) that can be used to enhance the rooting performance of shea stem cuttings. A significantly (P<0.05) higher rooting was achieved for cuttings set in the propagating bin (63.3%) and polythene propagator (57.5%). Significant (P<0.05) differences between infection rates on cuttings in the structures were observed with the polythene tunnel recording the highest (64.4%). High rooting performance and low infection rate were recorded when the cuttings were irrigated once daily, producing more and longer roots. Significantly (P<0.05) high number of rooted cuttings was observed for cuttings with retained petioles. This treatment also significantly reduced infection rate. Seradix 3 powder treated cuttings significantly recorded the highest number of rooted cuttings. Cuttings with retained petioles and irrigated once daily significantly recorded high levels of soluble, insoluble sugars and total free phenols.

The sheanut tree (Vitellaria paradoxa Gaertn) is indigenous to the Guinea Savanna belt of West Africa extending from Senegal in the West to Sudan in the East. The tree's response to vegetative propagation methods is very poor and inconsistent. Impact of different fungicides (Ridomil 72 plus, Dithane M45, Nordox 75 and Kocide 101), their different concentrations and frequencies of application and the application of a hormonal rooting powder (Seradix 3) were studied at Bole, Ghana from June to August, 2005. Significant rooting was observed when Dithane M45 was applied at 2000ppm three times (once every two weeks) during the rooting period and gave the highest rooting performance when combined with Seradix 3 hormone. High concentrations of Dithane M45 did not significantly affect the degree of infection on cuttings. However, cuttings which were not sprayed with any fungicide recorded significantly (P< 0.05) high fungal infection. Ridomil 72 Plus, Kocide 101and Nordox 75 lower rooting performance in shea cuttings.

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Shea tree (Vitellaria paradoxa Gaertn. Family; Sapotaceae) indigenous to the Sudano-sahelian zone of Africa has great economic and ecological potential and attributes. Commercial cultivation of the tree is however, hampered by the poor rooting success of its planting material with adverse consequences on field establishment and total fruit yield. A 3 × 2 factorial experiment arranged in a randomized complete block design was carried out in 2012 at Bole in the Interior Savanna agro-ecological zone. The objective was to assess the rooting success of Shea shoots by the air-layering technique using two media types (palm fibre and Sphagnum moss) and three IBA hormone concentrations (0, 5000 and 10,000 ppm) under contrasting climatic (wet and dry) conditions. Layered shoots which were sprayed with 10,000 ppm IBA and wrapped with Sphagnum moss gave significantly (P < 0.05) higher rooting success in terms of more roots per cutting (73.3%) and longer roots per cutting (9.0 cm) than palm fibre at both 5000 ppm (30.0%; 3.7 cm) and 10,000 ppm (46.7%;7.9 cm) concentrations. Higher rooting success was significantly achieved in the wet season than in the dry season. Sphagnum moss treated with 10,000 ppm IBA facilitated the translocation of higher levels of sugar and total free phenol (TFP) to the base of the layered shoots which resulted in significantly (P < 0.05) higher number of roots and better roots protection from fungal infection than the other treatments. Rooting of layered shoots was affected to a greater extent by low temperatures (Rooting = 836-34.2 Temp (low); R 2 = 82%, p < 0.001) than by high temperatures (Rooting = 5250-175.0 Temp (high); R 2 = 64.5%, p < 0.009). Rooting of layered shoots was also significantly and negatively affected by the spread of the canopy of the selected tree such that closed canopy trees resulted in higher and better rooting that open canopy trees (Rooting = 113.87-23.697(Canopy spread); R 2 = 89%, p = 0.002; n = 9). Furthermore, significant J. Yeboah et al. 1213 and positive correlations were found between IBA concentration level and simple sugars (r = 0.99; P < 0.0001; n = 9) and also between IBA concentration level and total free phenols (r = 0.98; P < 0.0002; n = 9). The study concluded that to achieve high rooting success in the propagation of Shea nut tree by the air-layering technique, a combination of Sphagnum moss treated with 10,000 ppm of IBA hormone should be used and the whole set up carried out in the wet season.

Cashew (Anacardium occidentale L.) is an important tropical cash crop cultivated in Ghana. It provides livelihood for about 200,000 people and contributes 6.1% to Ghana&rsquo;s gross domestic product (GDP). Four Brazilian dwarf accessions were introduced to improve nut yield. Objectives of this study were to (1) assess the agronomic performance of the accessions across two contrasting ecologies, (2) determine environmental influence on juvenile growth, (3) determine the relationship between early vegetative growth and yield and (4) explore heritability and genetic advance for the measured agronomic traits. The experiment was laid out in a randomized complete block design with 3 replications. Results revealed significant (p &lt; 0.05) environmental influence on growth and yield of cashew. Transitional savanna agro-ecology is more suitable for cashew growth and development. Crop year, location and crop year &times; location interactions also influenced most of the agronomic traits. Early growth characteristics alone were not enough to predict yield. Genotype B2 ranked highest yielding across the agro-ecologies. Moderate to high heritability and genetic advance estimates were observed for nut yield, plant height and girth, an indication of variability among accessions needed for cashew improvement in Ghana.