Influence of Climate, Seed Sizes and Land Use Types on the Germination and Early Growth of Garcinia kola and Cola nitida in Nigeria

Abstract

Garcinia kola and Cola nitida are important multipurpose economic tree species in Nigeria that have the potentials to contribute to the regional and local income generation of the rural people. The cultivation of both species is very much limited in Nigeria; they can contribute immensely to the livelihood of the rural dwellers. The study was carried out to investigate the impact of climate, seed sizes and land use types on germination and survival of G. kola and C. nitida with the view to ascertain and provide baseline information of appropriate seeds sources to ensure successful propagation of G. kola and C. nitida in Nigeria. A factorial experiment in completely randomized design was used. A total of 1500 seeds each of G. Kola and C. nitida were used for study. Twenty seeds of uniform sizes were carefully selected and sorted for each seed class of the two species and were used for each treatment and replicated five times. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistic, Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and Principal Component Analysis (PCA). The results indicated that seeds sizes and land use types significantly influence the germination percentage of both G. kola and C. nitida, the larger the seed size of G. kola and C. nitida the more the germination percentage. The PCA also confirm that germination and growth parameter assessed (height and collar diameter) are positively correlated with big seeds which implies that the seed sizes significantly affected germination and early growth variables of the two species, the protected area and agroforestry plots looks more appropriate for propagation because they positively correlated with the germination percentage and early growth variables unlike seeds from compound farm that are characterize with low germination percentage and low growth rate. The study has shown that seed sources and seed morphological characters had significant influence on the germination and early growth performance of G. kola and C. nitida.