Variations in Phenology and Morphology of Uapaca kirkiana Müll. Arg. Provenances at Nauko in Liwonde Forest Reserve, Malawi

Aim: To assess phenological and morphological parameters of Uapaca kirkiana Müll. Arg. provenances at sixteen years of age.

Place and Duration of the Study: The trial was established in 1997 at Nauko in Liwonde Forest Reserve, Malawi.

Methodology: Data collection on phenology and morphology (flowering, fruit production, diameter at breast height (dbh), height, and crown width) of Uapaca kirkiana provenances and families was carried out every month from flowering period up to fruiting period (January to May 2014) at sixteen years of age after out planting.

Results: The results show that there were significant (P<0.001) variations in flowering sex ratio among the provenances. Phalombe provenance did not deviate significantly from sex ratio equality. The other provenances showed significant male biased sex ratios. There were no significant (P>0.05) differences in number of fruits per tree, dbh, height and crown width among the provenances. However, Phalombe had the highest mean number of fruits per tree (365±158). The mean dbh, height and crown width were: 10.1±0.1 cm, 7.7±0.06 m, and 3.0±0.05 m, respectively. There were no significant correlation between number of fruits and dbh (r=0.326; P=0.091) and the height (r=0.119; P=0.547). However, there was significant modest correlation between number of fruits and crown width (r=0.454; P<0.05). Number of fruits had high heritability value (0.72) followed by height (0.59) and dbh (0.53), while crown width did not appear to be under high genetic control with low heritability value of 0.13.

Conclusion: The higher estimated heritability value for number of fruits per tree indicates that phenotypic selection for this trait could be highly efficient. Further studies should investigate heritability and genetic correlation between growth and desirable fruits traits (fruit size, sweetness, pulp ratio, etc) for efficient tree domestication and improvement strategy.