Abstract:Two rattans species were studied in Côte d'Ivoire using a stage-classified matrix model to compare their demography and life histories. Respectively 854 and 1009 genets ofEremospatha macrocarpa(pleonanthic) andLaccosperma secundiflorum(hapaxanthic) were censused every 6 mo over 18 mo. The population growth rates ofE. macrocarpa(λ = 0.979) andL. secundiflorum(λ = 0.959) were not significantly different from 1. This indicates that the populations were close to equilibrium. However, the difference between the stable stage distributions and the observed distributions indicated temporal variation in vital rates. Elasticity analysis showed that growth and fecundity had lower contributions to λ than the survival rates for the two species. A Life Table Response Experiment revealed that the survival of the first juvenile stage (all stems < 6 m in length), fecundity, growth of the second juvenile stage (at least one stem > 6 m in length) and adult (reproductive) survival highly contribute to the differences between the demography of the two species. Reproduction is postponed longer forL. secundiflorumthan forE. macrocarpaand the mean remaining life span for adult genets is shorter forL. secundiflorumthan forE. macrocarpa. Finally, our results suggest the existence of two trade-offs within reproduction which suggest that, although the two species have different demographic features, the λ of their populations are not significantly different from 1.
The increase in agricultural production as well as its nutritional quality at a cost bearable by producers is today a challenge in rural areas. Vermicompost is a low-cost organic amendment known for its effectiveness on agricultural productivity increase but little is diffused about its efficacy on nutritional quality. This study aimed to evaluate the benefits of vermicompost from cattle dung on Lagenaria siceraria yield and its edible parts content in mineral and in heavy metal compared to raw dung. The study was carried out in the region of Mankono the biggest area for L. siceraria production in Côte d’Ivoire during three cycle seasons. The experiment consisted of three treatments arranged in a complete randomized block design with four replicates. The agronomic parameters as yield, number of leaves and flowers per plant were evaluated. Also, mineral nutrients and heavy metal concentrations in roots, leaves and seeds were measured. Results showed that yield, number of leaves and flowers per plant were higher with the vermicompost than with the cattle manure and the control. The yield obtained with the vermicompost was 2.5 times and 20 times higher respectively than that with the cattle manure and the control. Mineral concentrations in roots, leaves and seeds were the highest with the vermicompost when heavy metal contents were the lowest. The present study indicates that vermicompost utilization improves the yield and the nutritional quality of the edible parts of L. siceraria and hence could be recommended to producers for increasing productivity with keeping the health and safety of human.
An assessment of the competitive indices in intercropping between cassava (Manihot esculenta) and bottle gourd (Lagenaria siceraria) was conducted with the aim of increasing the productivity of these crops. For this purpose, three farmers preferred landraces of cassava (yacé, blêbou and six mois) and three morphotypes of gourd (dark green and round fruit, light green and round fruit, light green and long fruit) were used to test the three intercropping ratios (gourd:cassava with 6:42, 6:24 and 6:18). Intercropping systems were assessed by land equivalent ratio (LER), area time equivalent ratio (ATER), relative crowding coefficient (K ), actual yield loss (AYL), aggressivity (A) and competition ratio (CR). LER, ATER and K values were greater than 1 for gourd-cassava (6:24). These findings indicate an advantage of intercropping for exploiting the resources of the environment. Cassava clones were more competitive than gourd component.
Lagenaria siceraria Molina has a high productive potential of fruits but the seeds weight remain low. The aim of this study is to regenerate doubled haploids from androgenesis in order to create genotypes with good agronomic characteristics. For this purpose, flower buds of six accessions namely NI185, NI202, NI215, NI276, NI356 and NI271 were pre-treated at 4 °C for 0, 1, 2, 4, 6, 7 days. To assess the ability of these accessions to induce callus, the anthers excised from the collected floral buds were cultured following two standard protocols referred to as Metwally et al. and Kumar and Murthy, respectively. Histological sections were performed with buds of different sizes in order to select pollen at uni-nucleate stage, the most appropriate for the androgenesis. The histological sections showed that the pollen is at uni-nucleate stage when the bud size varied from 5 to 7 mm. No callus production was observed with the protocol of Metwally et al. whereas a significant formation of callus were expressed on medium corresponding to the protocol of Kumar and Murthy. The best rate (79%) of callus induction was obtained after one and two days of pre-treatment at 4 °C. The highest rate of callus induction was observed with the accessions NI271, NI276 and NI356.
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