Grafting Acacia Senegal gum trees in Burkina Faso: A study on suitability

In 2002, the National Tree Seeds Centre launched an improvement programme for Acacia senegal in Burkina Faso, and is now considering possibilities for distributing plant material from high-quality grafted gum trees. The research conducted to date has focused on grafting techniques and on the best time of year for grafting to take place. Of the 4 techniques tested, the success rate for chipbudding was very low at around 9 %, while the other 3, terminal cleft grafting, side grafting and whip grafting, produced success rates of 40 % to 53 %. Regarding the most suitable times of year, no significant variations in success rates for terminal cleft grafting were observed between December and March, the two periods tested. This technique, used to produce stock grafted with plant material from productive adult gum trees, could become an additional method to the plant production system based on population selection and seed tree orchards. However, further data are needed on the medium-term behaviour of the grafted stock before promoting the establishment of gum plantations of this type on a large scale.