78 Gbadamosi and Oni: Macropropagation of Enatia chlorantha MACROPROPAGATION OF AN ENDANGERED MEDICINAL PLANT, ENANTIA CHLORANTHA OLIV. By A.E. Gbadamosi and O. Oni Abstract. The effects of auxins and leaf size on the rooting of juvenile, single-node leafy stem cuttings of Enantia chlorantha Oliv. were investigated. Percentage survival of the cuttings differed among the auxins, their levels, and cutting leaf sizes. Half-leaf cuttings had the highest mean percentage survival of 70% under both naphthalene acetic acid (NAA) and the control followed by indole-3-butric acid (IBA) (60%) and the combination of IBA/NAA with 40% survival. Among full-leaf cuttings, the control treatment and the combination of IBA/NAA had a mean percentage survival of 100%, followed by IBA with 80% and NAA with 40%. Callusing of cutting was also affected by the different auxin treatments. Among the auxins and under full-leaf cuttings, the combination of IBA/NAA had the highest mean percentage of callused cuttings of 100%, followed by the control with 90%, while NAA had 40%. Callusing among the half-leaf cuttings was highest under the control and NAA (70%), while the lowest mean value of 30% was obtained under NAA. Rooting among the cuttings was affected by the IBA treatment only. Full-leaf cuttings treated with IBA at 50 ppm and the control treatment gave the highest percentage of rooted cuttings of 10% each. Auxin type, auxin concentration, leaf size, interaction between auxin type and concentration, interaction between auxin type and leaf size, and interaction between auxin concentration and leaf size had no significant effect on the percentage rooting of cuttings. Better survival and rooting rates under the control treatment, compared to those treated with rooting hormones at higher concentrations, imply that E. chlorantha can be propagated vegetatively at reduced cost, thus ensuring that this technology can be adopted with minimum capital to yield expected results. Key Words. Enantia chlorantha; half-leaf cuttings; full-leaf cuttings; auxins. Health Organization (WHO) reported that an average of 3,000 people are infected by malaria every minute and approximately one million die of the disease yearly. Due to the prevalence of malaria in tropical Africa, plants that demonstrate potency against the disease are usually overexploited. Prance (1994) observed that overexploitation can lead to severe reduction of a species range and subsequent extinction of species, particularly tropical species. With the alarming exploitation and destruc- tion of natural forests, the future of trees is on farms. There is, therefore, the need to domesticate and introduce these useful forest trees species to agroecosystems in order to prevent their extinction. Leakey and Simons (1998) noted that the development of vegetative propagation techniques represent the first step in the process of domestication of a tree species. Vegetative propagation offers a unique opportunity of avoiding the problem of recalcitrant seeds predominant in tropical tree species. It also facilitates the transference of the genetic potential as well as the nonadditive variance of the parent to the new plant (Puri and Khara 1992). However, the rooting media, auxin concentration, and leaf area of cuttings are known to influence the rooting ability of juvenile stem cuttings (Mudge and Brennan 1999). This study was carried out to determine the possibility of raising E. chlorantha through cuttings with a view to making it available for planting by farmers. Since medieval times, the forest has provided food and herbs to maintain good health for humans (Gbadamosi 2002). Medicinal plants are widely used by all sections of the population, either directly as folk remedies or indirectly in the preparation of modern pharmaceuticals. Enantia chlorantha is a medicinal tree species used for the treatment of malaria and other ailments of the human body. Gill and Akinwunmi (1986) reported the use of infusion of the plant bark for the treatment of cough and wounds. Wafo et al. (1999) noted the antiviral activity of extracts from the dried stem bark. However, in Nigeria, its most prominent use has been for the treatment of malaria. Malaria has a direct impact on the socioeconomic develop- ment of people, especially in the tropical world. The World ©2005 International Society of Arboriculture MATERIALS AND METHODS Matured seed of Enantia chlorantha were obtained from Lafe near Ore, Nigeria (latitude 6° 44′ N, longitude 4° 52′ E) and raised in the nursery of the Department of Forest Resources Management, University of Ibadan. At 9 months, a total of 200 single-node stem cuttings were obtained from the seedlings. One hundred stem cuttings had their leaves reduced by 50% of the original sizes, while the remaining 100 cuttings remained as whole leaves. Two types of rooting hormones (auxins), namely, indole- 3-butric acid (IBA) and naphthalene acetic acid (NAA) and their combinations IBA/NAA (1:1), all at four levels of 0, 50, 100, and150 ppm, were used in treating the cuttings. Hormone application was by quick-dip method (Oni 1987). Sixty cuttings were treated with each type of auxin and their combination; thus, 10 cuttings were allocated to each treatment level and leaf size, while 20 cuttings were under
March 2005
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