Agroforestree database This database provides detailed information on a total of 670 agroforestry tree species. It is intended to help field workers and researchers in selecting appropriate species for agroforestry systems and technologies. For each species, the database includes information on identity, ecology and distribution, propagation and management, functional uses, pests and diseases and a bibliography. This project has been funded by the British Department for International Development (DFID, the European Union and the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF). |
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| Afzelia africana | Seed collection starts soon after maturation because the seed is heavily browsed by wildlife and livestock. It may even be necessary to install a fence under a chosen seed bearer or to climb up the tree to collect the seed. Seeds exhibit a recalcitrant behavior in storage. There are 350-450 seeds/kg. |
| Alphitonia zizyphoides | The mature dry fruits, with seeds showing, should be collected from the tree canopy. There are 8900 dry fruits per kg, with two seeds per fruit. The seed storage behavior is orthodox and may be successfully stored for many years in hermetically sealed containers under cool, dry conditions. Seeds should be soaked in water for 12-24 hours to improve the germination rate in older seed batches (e.g., more than 10 months old). |
| Annona cherimola | Cherimoya seeds remain viable for 2-3 years if kept dry and protected from weevils and fungi. At 20 deg. C bottom heat, seeds germinate in about 21 days, but require about 40 days under normal ambient growing conditions. |
| Annona muricata | Seed storage behaviour is orthodox, and the seeds tolerate desiccation to 5%. Long-term storage under ideal conditions is possible. |
| Annona reticulata | Seeds remain viable for more than 12 months in air-dry storage at 5 deg. C. |
| Annona squamosa | Seed storage behaviour is orthodox. If kept dry, seeds retain their viability for several years. No loss in viability occurs during 6 months hermetic storage at -20 deg. C and 1.5% mc, but loss in viability occurs if seeds are stored at room temperature. |
| Artocarpus altilis | Seeds display recalcitrant storage behaviour. The short-lived seeds should not be allowed to dry out and should be kept moist at 20 deg. C. Seeds germinate immediately and are unable to withstand desiccation, hence loose viability within a few weeks and cannot be stored. Wherever seeds occur they are distributed by flying foxes. |
| Artocarpus heterophyllus | Seed storage behaviour is recalcitrant. Viability is maintained for 2 years in moist storage at 15 deg. C, seeds kept in polythene bags filled with perlite at 6 deg. C. There are about 430 seeds/kg. |
| Artocarpus integer | A. integer exhibits a recalcitrant seed storage behaviour; no whole seed or excised embryo remains viable when the mean seed mc is reduced to 30.2% and the embryo mc to 25.7%. Seed are stored in pits covered with about 5 cm dry earth. There are 40-50 seeds/kg. |
| Averrhoa carambola | Seed storage behaviour is intermediate. The lowest safe mc is 12.3%; further desiccation reduces viability. Cool temperatures damage the seeds. Viability can be maintained for 6 months with partially dried seeds at 5 deg. C. There are approximately 15 000 seeds/kg. |
| Bixa orellana | Reported yields are 4.5-5 kg of dried seed/tree per year. Storage behaviour is intermediate; seeds tolerate desiccation to 10% mc, but further desiccation to 4.2% mc reduces viability. Longevity is reduced for seeds stored at -20 deg. C. Sun-dried seeds retain viability for over 1 year, but germination reduces to 12% when stored for 3 years. Seeds stored for 12 months at 23 deg. C and 45% r.h. or 9.8% mc experience no loss in viability; little loss is experienced with seeds at 9.8% mc and 5 deg. C, while storage temperatures of 5 deg. C and -20 deg. C damage the viability of seeds at 4.2% mc. |
| Cananga odorata | Seed storage behaviour is orthodox |
| Canarium ovatum | Refrigeration of seeds at 4-13 deg. C results in loss of viability after 5 days. Nuts in the shell, with 2.5-4.6% mc, can be stored in the shade for 1 year without deterioration of quality. Seed germination is highly recalcitrant, reducing from 98 to 19% after 12 weeks of storage at room temperature; seeds stored for more than 137 days did not germinate. |
| Ceratonia siliqua | Orthodox seed storage behaviour; viability can be maintained for 5 years in air-dry storage at 5 deg. C without loss in viability. Although carob seeds have remained viable for as long as 5 years stored at low temperatures in sealed containers, it is advisable to use seeds from the current season. Seeds are presumably viable after passing through an animal’s digestive tract. There are about 500 seeds/kg. |
| Citrus bergamia | |
| Citrus maxima | In Thailand, fruits are generally picked when just beginning to turn yellow, heaped in large piles for sale. If not disposed of immediately, they are stored in dry, ventilated sheds shaded by trees. The fruits keep for long periods and ship well because of the thick peel. Paper-wrapped fruits in ventilated crates can keep in good condition for 6-8 month. The seed storage behaviour is intermediate. The seeds can be stored for 80 days at 5º C and 56-58% relative humidity. |
| Coffea arabica | Seed storage behaviour is intermediate. Lowest safe seed mc is 8%, unfreezable mc is 24%, viability is completely lost within 24 hours at -196 deg. C with 8% mc. Results of investigations of desiccation tolerance of 17 seed lots representing 9 cultivars received from 3 continents showed that C. arabica seeds tolerated desiccation to 7-12% mc, that is, in equilibrium with about 40-55% rh, but further desiccation reduced germination in all seed lots; moreover, viability was lost rapidly at cool (5 deg. C and 0 deg. C) and subzero temperatures (-20 deg.C) and at low moisture contents. Optimum air-dry storage environments for the maintenance of seed viability reported are ambient temperature with 10% mc, 10 deg. C with 50% rh (about 10% mc), 9 deg. C with 50% rh, 5 deg. C with 35-55% rh (about 7.5-11% mc), 10 deg. C with 10-11% mc. Excised embryos tolerated desiccation to 16.4% mc; viability was reduced to 56% and 8% on desiccation to 8.4% and 7.7% mc, respectively; no loss in viability after 1 hour’s cryostorage in liquid nitrogen with excised embryos at 16.4% mc, little loss (by 14%) in viability with excised embryos at 8.4% mc, but no excised embryos at 7.7% mc survived 1 hour in liquid nitrogen. There are about 3 200 seeds/kg. |
| Durio zibethinus | Seeds are recalcitrant; they lose viability within 2 weeks. They tolerate desiccation to 41.5% mc if dried slowly, to 38.5% mc if dried rapidly. Excised embryos tolerated desiccation to 53.9% mc, and none survived further desiccation to 40.1% mc. There are between 60-70 seeds/kg. |
| Emblica officinalis | The seed is extracted by drying the ripe fruits in the sun until they dehisce and the seeds escape. The seed is dried before storage. Seeds weigh 65 000-69 000/kg. The seed does not store well. |
| Eriobotrya japonica | The seed does not store well and should be sown when still fresh. Moist storage is recommended; 92% germination following 6 months moist storage at 5 deg. C; viability maintained for 8 days in moist storage at 5 deg. C. Seed storage behaviour of E. japonica has been provisionally classified as recalcitrant, since only moist storage has been recommended. But this does not necessarily mean that this species shows recalcitrant seed behaviour. There are about 600 seeds/kg. |
| Irvingia gabonensis | Seed storage behaviour is orthodox. |
| Litchi chinensis | Seed storage behaviour is recalcitrant; storing seed in moist peat moss at 8 deg. C is recommended. Viability is reduced from 100% to less than 20% on desiccation to about 20% mc, and no seeds remain viable when mc is reduced below this value. There is complete loss in viability after 7 days of open storage at 30 deg. C; however, viability of seed stored moist at 5 deg. C was maintained for 60 and at 30 deg. C for 100 days. Germination rate was 92% after 7 weeks of moist storage at 8-10 deg. C with 100% rh and with 80% nitrous oxide plus 20% oxygen; 69% after 280 days moist storage at 15 deg. C in moist (20% mc) perlite, plus chlorthalonil. Excised embryonic axes tolerate desiccation to 30% mc. Seeds extracted from fruit harvested at 98 days after anthesis are more tolerant of desiccation than those from overripe or immature fruit. |
| Macadamia tetraphylla | Mature seed may be stored at 1-2 deg C. for several months in airtight containers. |
| Malpighia glabra | |
| Mangifera foetida | |
| Mangifera odorata | |
| Manilkara zapota | Seed storage behaviour is intermediate; viability can be maintained for 24 months in air-dry storage at 5 deg. C. |
| Moringa oleifera | Seed storage behaviour is orthodox; viability can be maintained for several years in hermetic storage at 3 deg. C with 5-8% mc. Seeds should be collected from well-developed pods, but difficulties arise because seeds drop continually. |
| Morus alba | Seed storage behaviour is orthodox, with viability being maintained for several years in hermetic storage at room temperature; more than 3 years of hermetic storage at room temperature with 13-2% mc. There are about 1.1 million seeds/kg. |
| Parkia biglobosa | Orthodox storage behaviour; no loss in viability during 1 year of hermetic storage at 4 deg. C. There are about 2800-6700 seeds/kg. |
| Parkia speciosa | Seeds of P. speciosa loose their viability very rapidly. |
| Pouteria sapota | Seeds lose viability within 7 to 14 days and there is no good method for storing seeds. |
| Psidium guajava | Seed storage behaviour is orthodox; seeds at 6% mc survive 24 hours in liquid nitrogen; no loss in viability following 66 months hermetic storage at -20 deg. C with 5.5% mc. |
| Pyrus communis | The mature fruits are picked from trees or shaken to the ground. Seeds are recovered by macerating the fruit, drying the pulp, and using a screen to extract the seeds. Small quantities of seeds are effectively removed by carefully transversely cutting fruit to expose the locules. Each ripe fruit contains up to 10 smooth black (or nearly black) seeds, each with a thin layer of endosperm. There are about 22000 seeds/kg. Pears are outcrossing species, so seedlings will not be identical to parental genotypes. |
| Sandoricum koetjape | Seedling exhibiting epigeal germination. Seeds have short viability, and a germination rate of 90-95% in 16-31 days. |
| Schinus terebinthifolius | Seed storage orthodox and seeds can maintain viability for about 5 months. |
| Simmondsia chinensis | In the wild, the only harvesting method has been hand collection from under the plants, since mature seeds fall from the bush. Under cultivation, harvesting of seeds is done from the ground under the bushes manually. Jojoba seed that has been dried to around 10% mc and protected from pest damage keeps viable for several years. The seed storage behaviour is orthodox. Seed weight varies in the range 650-5500 seeds/kg. |
| Syzygium cuminii | Seed storage behaviour is recalcitrant; seeds germinate well when fresh, but viability is lost within 2 weeks of open storage at room temperature. On average there are 1 200-1 800 seeds/kg. |
| Syzygium malaccense | |
| Syzygium samarangense | |
| Tamarindus indica | Seed storage behaviour is orthodox; no loss in viability during 1 years of hermetic storage at 4 deg. C; and viability can be maintained for several years in hermetic storage at 10 deg. C with 7-15% mc. There are approximately 350-1 000 seeds/kg. |
| Tectona grandis | To reduce bulk in storage, the seed can be husked by rubbing it over a sieve. Another method is to load seed and large river gravel into a cement mixer. The seed can then be ‘floated’ off. Stumps, used for propagation, can be stored for up to a year. Seed storage behaviour is orthodox. Viability can be maintained for at least 7 years in hermetic, air-dry storage at room temperature; there is no loss in viability after 7 years in hermetic, air-dry storage at 0-4 deg. C with 12% mc. Seed can be maintained for 10 years in hermetic, air-dry storage at 2 deg. C. There are 800-2 000 seeds/kg. |
| Theobroma cacao | Seed storage behaviour is recalcitrant. Storage temperature between 4 and 15 deg. C is damaging to seed viability and germination. Optimum storage temperature appears to be 17 deg. C. Seeds tolerate desiccation to 25% mc when dried at 20 deg. C, while only about 40-60% survive when dried at 10 deg. C; seeds stored in pods at 5 or 10 deg. C are killed within 2 days, and there is 100% survival when stored in pods at temperatures of 15-30 deg. C for 3 weeks. Viability is reduced from 92% to 18% on desiccation from 45% to 36.7% mc; no seeds survive desiccation to 26% mc; 24% germination after 8 months subimbibed storage (41-42% mc) at 98% rh and 20 deg. C with Thiram fungicide. Similarly, no seeds survive desiccation to below 20% mc, and no fresh seeds survive in storage at 4 deg. C or 15 deg. C. |
| Treculia africana | Seed storage behaviour is orthodox. There are 4500-5000 seeds/kg. |
| Ziziphus mauritiana | Orthodox storage behaviour, viability maintained for 2 years in hermetic air-dry storage at 5 deg. C. The germination rate increases during the 1st year of storage. The cleaned stones can be kept for 5 years in sealed containers, although during this period the viability drops from 95% to 30%. Z. mauritiana has 3300 pyrenes/kg. |
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