Utility of grafting in tree domestication programme with special reference to Allanblackia parviflora A. Chev.

Agricultural biodiversity and provision of alternate livelihoods for farmers have become critical issues for sustainable management of biological resources as well as poverty reduction in rural areas. This is being done through cultivation of a wide range of food crops, vegetables, fruits and medicinal plants. One of such fruit trees being encouraged in agroforestry systems is Allanblackia spp., hence the need for sustainable supply of improved early fruiting planting stock. Grafting was adopted for production of early fruiting high yielding planting stock to satisfy farmers needs. Two methods of grafting tried were side veneer grafting and cleft grafting The mean grafting success for side veneer grafting (50.21%) was significantly lower than that of cleft grafting (79.8%). Clonal differences in grafting success were quite substantial ranging from 70 to 7.5% for cleft grafting and 42.8 to 57.8% for side veneer grafting. Grafts flowered within 12 months after grafting even though the flowers could not develop into fruits. This suggests that grafting could be a tool for mass propagation of desirable genotypes of A. parviflora with reduced gestation period.