Seed Quality, Germinability and Initial Growth of Pterocarpus erinaceus (African Rosewood). How Important are Mother Tree Size, Source and Timing of Fruit Harvest?

Pterocarpus erinaceus is a multipurpose tree species indigenous to semi-arid and Guinean-savanna woodlands of Africa. Natural regeneration on the savanna is being hampered by higher fire frequencies and other land use changes. Simultaneously, demand for timber from the species on the international market is on the rise, raising conservation concerns. To ensure sustainability, good quality seeds, sources of which have not received much research focus, are needed for afforestation. This study investigated how seed quality, germinability and initial seedling growth of P. erinaceus might be influenced by land-use type, mother tree size as well as source and timing of fruit harvest, using both correlational and experimental approaches. The results showed that up to 94.6% of all harvested fruits contained seeds, with no differences found between fruits harvested from cultivated and non-cultivated lands. Percentage of (sound) unblemished seeds was found to be higher for fruits harvested early March (47.3%) than fruits from late April (39.5%). Percentage sound seeds was 41.4% for dispersed fruits (i.e. detached fruits picked from under mother trees) which was not found to differ from undispersed fruits (i.e. fruits harvested while still attached to mother trees) at 45.5%. Also, the influence of fruit harvest time was not found to be different for dispersed and undispersed fruits. Correlations between seed set (proportion of fruits containing seeds) and mother tree size (both tree height and DBH) were found to be very low and non-significant for both dispersed and undispersed fruits. Across mother trees, mean emergence percent was 79.7%, and mean seedling height at three weeks following emergence was 5.32 cm. Both emergence percentage and seedling height were not found to differ among mother trees, but seeds from dispersed fruits had a higher emergence percent (85%) than seeds from undispersed fruits (74%). Implications of findings are discussed.