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Reactions of Adansonia digitata L. provenances to long-term stress at seedling stage

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Abstract

The effects of drought stress on growth parameters and dry matter partitioning of seven provenances (six from West Africa and one from East Africa) of Adansonia digitata L. were assessed in a seedling experiment in Burkina Faso. Three water regimes corresponding to 100 % (control), 75 % and 50 % of field capacity were applied over a period of 18 months. While survival was unaffected by the stress treatments, provenances and water regimes significantly affected growth parameters, and plant dry matter accumulation was significantly reduced by water stress. Provenances had growth rates of diameter and height in response to stress. The fresh weight/dry weight ratio increased with increasing stress. In response to stress, shoot/root ratios decreased at the start of the experiment, but increased at the end, compared to the control. Differences between provenances were not correlated to environmental parameters of the site of origin, and the hypothesis about better resistance of seedlings from drier sites to drought stress was not confirmed. However, the provenance from East Africa was in several aspects different from the West African provenances.

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Acknowledgments

This work was conducted under the project NuTree (Improving food potential in West African Parkland trees), financed by Danida (Danish International Development Agency). Special thanks to Gnoumou Augustin, Ilboudo Harouna, Bazié Paulin, Yonli Hermann, Diasso Ousmane, Kaboré Abel from INERA/DPF and Oubida Regis from CNSF for their support in the data collection.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management, Faculty of Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Rolighedsvej 23, 1958, Frederiksberg C, Denmark

    Z. H.-N. Bouda, J. S. Jensen & A. Ræbild

  2. Département Productions Forestières, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique et Technologique (CNRST), Institut de l’Environnement et de Recherches Agricoles (INERA), 03 BP 7047, Ouagadougou 03, Burkina Faso

    Z. H.-N. Bouda

  3. World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF), ICRAF-WCA/Sahel Node, BP E5118, Bamako, Mali

    J. Bayala

  4. Department of Mathematical Sciences, Faculty of Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Universitetsparken 5, Copenhagen, Denmark

    B. Markussen

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  1. Z. H.-N. Bouda
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  2. J. Bayala
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  3. J. S. Jensen
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  4. B. Markussen
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  5. A. Ræbild
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Correspondence to Z. H.-N. Bouda.

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Bouda, Z.HN., Bayala, J., Jensen, J.S. et al. Reactions of Adansonia digitata L. provenances to long-term stress at seedling stage. Agroforest Syst 89, 113–123 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10457-014-9746-x

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