Occurrence of mistletoes on shea trees in Northern Ghana

Abstract

In an attempt to establish the cause of reported death of shea trees at Maluwe and Gindabo in the Northern Region of Ghana, a survey of mistletoes on shea trees was conducted. In August 2018, 50 shea trees were randomly sampled at each study site and inspected for the presence of mistletoes. Two species of mistletoes, Tapinanthus bangwensis (Engl. & K Krause) Danser and Agelanthus dodoneifolius (DC) Danser were identified on shea trees. Agelanthus dodoneifolius was the dominant mistletoe species at both Maluwe (50% infestation) and Gindabo (84% infestation). None of the mistletoe infested trees were found dead at both study sites. An epiphytic plant, Ficus popenoei Standl. was identified on a shea tree at Gindabo. Further studies need to be conducted to determine the distribution, severity and impact of mistletoes on the productivity of the shea trees.

Occurrence and ecological habitat effect on Vitellaria paradoxa (C. F. Gaertn.) parasitism: implication for pest management and plant conservation

“…The infestation rate of shea trees by the African mistletoes was 39.02% in field (agroforestry parklands). This infestation rate is lower than the infestation rate found in the peripheral agroforestry parklands of the protected area in Benin (80%; Houehanou et al., 2011 ), in similar areas in Nigeria (81%; Odebiyi et al., 2004 ), in similar areas in Burkina Faso (94.9%; Boussim et al., 1993 ) and in other area in Ghana (50% infestation in Maluwe region and 84% infestation in Gindabo region ( Asare et al., 2019 ). The low rate of infestation obtained in the present study could be explained by the fact that farmers practice endogenous methods to fight against the proliferation of its parasitic plants on the shea trees in the fields.…”

“…The present study shows that the shea trees infestation by pests is a health problem for shea populations in view of the infestation rate obtained in this study, especially for the African mistletoe infestation. Further studies need to be conducted to determine the distribution, severity and impact of African mistletoes on the productivity of the shea trees ( Asare et al., 2019 ). This study shows that the species habitat and morphological traits are not the associated factors with the shea trees infestation.…”

“…There is positive negligible (statistically insignificantly) relationship between, the diameter at breast height (dbh), the crown diameter (Dc), the bole height (Hfut), the total height (Htot) and shea butter trees attack by the African mistletoe. There are also reports that there was positive relationship between African mistletoe infestation and tree diameter (Asare et al, 2019). Large trees hosted African mistletoes and this could be due to the fact that large trees serve as better perches for birds that disseminate seeds of African mistletoes (Reid, 2000).…”

Effect of landuse on floristic composition and diversity of medicinal plants in the Guinea Savanna zone of Ghana

“…As land management practices are unique to landuse type, we hypothesised that medicinal plant diversity and abundance would differ significantly between landuse types. Research in the savanna zone of Ghana have focused extensively on the exploitation of economic fruit trees such as Vitellaria paradoxa ( Naami and Naami 2018 ; Tom-Dery et al., 2018 ; Asare et al., 2019 ) with limited information on medicinal plants. The present study assessed the effect of different landuse systems on the floristic composition, abundance and diversity of medicinal plants.…”

INFLUÊNCIA DO SUBSTRATO E DO REVESTIMENTO NO DESENVOLVIMENTO INICIAL DA ERVA-DE-PASSARINHO Struthanthus syringifolius (LORANTHACEAE)

“…No entanto, uma vez parasitas, as ervas-depassarinho podem reduzir a produtividade das hospedeiras ou sua capacidade reprodutiva (PRESS; PHOE-NIX, 2005;YAN et al, 2016;DOLEŽAL et al, 2016). Em casos extremos, podem causar impactos em plantações de gêneros alimentícios (AKROFI; ACHEAM-PONG, 2016;AMON et al, 2015;ASARE-BEDIAKO et al, 2013;ASARE et al, 2019;OGUNMEFUN et al, 2013;SIDAHMED, 1984;WOOD;REILLY, 2004;ZAROUG;ABBASHER;ZAHRAN, 2013), madeireiros (REID; SHAMOUN, 2009;REID, 1995), dentre outros (AMON et al, 2015;ASARE et al, 2019;SREEKAR et al, 2016). No Brasil, registros de herbários (CRIA, 2021b) mostram que as ervas-depassarinho podem infestar diversas plantas comercialmente importantes, como abacate, pitanga, caju, cacau, café, eucalipto, goiaba, manga, seringueira, tamarindo, dentre outras.…”