Fuel-wood energy properties of Prosopis juliflora and Prosopis pallida grown in Baringo District, Kenya

Sheila Mbiru — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 06:13:15 +0000

Description

Kenya depends on fuel-wood for cooking and heating in most households. Over 80% of both rural and urban households in the country use fuel wood for cooking. These Prosopis plant species provide excellent fuel wood. These plants were introduced in the arid and semi-arid areas of Kenya in the early 1970s as a source of woodfuel and also for the rehabilitation of degraded lands. Prosopis is a prolific seeder and has invasiveness behaviour that results in a number of social, ecological and economic concerns to the local communities, and challenges to development partners. Now with the Kenyan Forest Policy 2005 which proposes strategies and actions to enhance sustainable and efficient production of wood-fuel, Prosopis species is a suitable candidate. The Kenya Forest Service is now issuing permits allowing charcoal burning of Prosopis species in an effort to manage and curb uncontrolled spread. There is a national ban on charcoal making from unsustainable wood sources which include the woodlands and natural forest reserves. The aim of this project was to determine the energy values from Prosopis fuel-wood. The moisture content, volatile matter, ash content, carbon content and calorific values were determined from Prosopis fuel-wood plants. The calorific values for Prosopis juliflora and Prosopis pallida wood are 4.952 and 4.862 Kcal respectively. The calorific values for P. juliflora and P. pallida charcoal are 7.854 and 7.797 Kcal, respectively.

Sheila Mbiru Tue, 06/18/2013 - 01:13

Responsible party

KEFRI

Attachment	Size
Fuel-wood energy properties of prosopis spp in baringo district Oduor and Githiomi.pdf	287.83 KB

Forests and People / Biodiversity, Ecosystem Services and Biological Invasions volatile matter / Prosopis pallida / Prosopis juliflora / moisture content. / fuel-wood energy / carbon content / ash content

Genetic diversity of Kenyan Prosopis populations based on random amplified polymorphic DNA markers

Sheila Mbiru — Fri, 03 May 2013 11:41:14 +0000

Genetic diversity of Kenyan Prosopis populations based on random amplified polymorphic DNA markers

Description

Several Prosopis species and provenances were introduced in Kenya, either as a single event or repeatedly. To date, naturally established Prosopis populations are described as pure species depending on site, despite the aforementioned introduction of several species within some sites. To determine whether naturally established stands consist of a single or mixture of species, six populations from Bamburi, Bura, Isiolo, Marigat, Taveta and Turkwel were compared for relatedness with reference to Prosopis chilensis, Prosopis juliflora and Prosopis pallida using random amplified polymorphic DNA markers. Cluster analysis based on Nei’s genetic distance clustered Kenyan populations as follows: Marigat, Bura and Isiolo with P. juliflora, Bamburi with P. pallida and Taveta with P. chilensis, whereas the Turkwel population is likely to be a hybrid between P. chileneis and P. juliflora. Four populations had private markers, revealing germplasm uniqueness. Expected heterozygosity tended to be larger for Kenyan populations (ranging from 0.091 to 0.191) than in the three reference (ranging from 0.065 to 0.144). For the six Kenyan populations and two P. juliflora provenances from the Middle East, molecular variation was larger within populations than between population. Higher molecular variance among populations is attributed to their geographical separation and the low variation within populations is due to gene flow between individuals within a population. Overall, this study shows that (1) the Kenyan Prosopis populations are genetically isolated, (2) multiple introductions enhanced genetic diversity within sites and (3) P. juliflora and its hybrid are the most aggressive invaders.

Sheila Mbiru Fri, 05/03/2013 - 06:41

Responsible party

*Corresponding author. E-mail: gmuturi@kefri.org. Tel: +254721989791, +254733753864

Attachment	Size
Muturi et al.pdf	692.63 KB

Forests and People Prosopis pallida / Prosopis juliflora / Prosopis chilensis / multiple introductions / genetic diversity