Guide on Ogbono Production
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GUIDE ON OGBONO PRODUCTION . • . • . • . • . • . • . • . • . .. • . 0 . 0 . • . ••••••••. • . • . • . • . • • • • • • • • • • • • 0 ••• • •••••• • ••• 0 •••••• • • • • • • 0 ••••••••• 0 0 . .......... ...... 0 ••• • •• 0 0 ••••••••• 0 ••••••• • •••••••••• 0 •••• 0 . ................... 0 ••••••••• •• • • • • • • • 0 ••••••••••• • ••••••••••••••• • •• • • • • 0 ••••••• 0 •••••••••• 0 ••••••••••••• 0 • • • • • 0 ••••••••••••••••• • ••••• • ••••••••••• • • • • • • • • 0 •• • ••••• • • 0 • • ••••••••••••••••••• • • • • • • • • • 0 0 •• • •••••••• 0 •••••••••••• • •••• • • • • • • • • • 0 ••••••••••••• • •••••••••••• ••• • • • 0 ..... ................ .. .. ........ 0 • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 0 • • • • ••• EXTENSION GUIDE ·.·.·-:.·. ~ PRODUCTION AND UTILIZATION OF 'OGBONO' (IRVINGIA GABONESIS) Extension Bulletin No. Produced and Distributed by: ational Agri cultural Extension and Research Liaison Services Ahmadu Bello University P.M. B. 1067 Zaria. N igeria. Published - - - Acknowledgement The Authors w ish to acknowledge the following Institution who e varying contribution helped in the preparation of this bulletin:- Federal Uni ver ity of Tech nology (SAAT) Owerri ; Forestry Res. Institute; Nige rian Institute for Horticultural Research and Ministry of Agriculture, Anambra State. Chris Chinaka (NAERLS J. C. Obiefuna (FUTO) Introduction lrvingia gabonensis, popularly known as 'ogbono' and commonly called ' African mango' or"wild mango", is an indig enous forest tree belonging to the group of plants classified as " non timber forest products (NTEP). I n Nupe it is called .. pekpeara"; '·Ogwi" in bini; ·'Agbono/ugiri depending on the va riety in l gbo; " uyo" in Efik and " oro" (tree) " apon" (kern el) in Yoruba. Tt belongs to the Irvingiaceae family of plants. The tree attains a height of up to 30 meters and about 1.0 meter in girth when fully developed. The leaves are simple and altern ate, up to I 0 cm.long ~ i t h deciduous stipples up to 1 .2~m long·,. .w hi c ~ leaves encircling scares on the branchlets. Flowers are tiny, white to greenish and appear in clustered ax ially racemes. The flowers are very sweetly scented. The fruit is slightly flattened, ellipsoi.dal drop with fibrous mesocarp and stony endocarp . In the spec ies "gabonenesis ,. or Irving io. ·we II defined intraspecific taxa have been recognized: thus there are: lrvingia gabonensis var. gabonensis and ln ·ingia gahrmensis var excels a. The pulp of the lrFingia gahonensis var exce/.\·a i ~ ~a i el to be eaten although it i ~ biner and acrid with the fla vour of turpentine and slightly slimy. On the other hand. the pu lp or the /. Cobonensis var gahonensis i ·sweet, mooth in the mouth and has brittle pul p. 1.1 Ecophysiology: The natural habitat of I. Gahonensis extends from Senegal to Sudan and South of Angola. The tree grow well in a variety of soil type ranging from sandy clay loam. to loamy clay soils w ith adequate rainfall of about 1000 mm per annum and abundant sun hine. In Nigeria. the tree i found grow ing between latitude 4. 15 " and 8.00°N of the equator especially along ·tream and the banks of rivers and in village homesteads. The tree has adapted and now grows well even in the compara tively drier ecological zones of the northern edges of the derived savanna. Under natu_ral conditions, the plant bears fruits between 15-20 years but under improved management, especially when budded eedlings are planted. the vegetative pha~e i consider ably reduced and fruiting can start from 4- 5 year while eco nomic yield can be attained after 7- 8 years from planting. The ever expanding de forestation constitutes a major threat to the tree~ in the wild while the acti vities of fruit collectors. further com pound this negati ve impact on the natural regeneration of !n ·ingia tree!'> becai.tse the fruits are removed and thu~ not given a change to germin ate and grow into new tree.~!. These therefore call for the con.-c ious and planned establishment of ln •ingia plantations. 2.0 CULTIVATION PRACTICES: 2.1 Propagation: 'Ogbono' (irvingia gabonensis) is commonly propagated by seeds. Increasing awareness have necessitated the development of propa gation procedures for the plant in order to enhance its popularity, economic potentials and continued and regular production intra dition al and future farming systems. In this regard; efforts are made at obtaining early flowering (and fruiting) through cultural management practices which include budding and 'topping'. 2.2 Nurs.ery: Although ground nur eries c.ould be .. used, polybag, basket or perforated tray nurseries are recommended. Movable nur ·eries e.g. polybag nurseries have the following ad vantage over ground nurseries: i) They save labour co:t incurred during digging up for transplanting. ii) There is reduced to no ri sk of transplanting shocks iii) There is space economy." If polybag nurseri es are to be used. polybags not ~ma ll c r th an ISmm gauge, 12cm diameter and 25 em deep are recommended. This should be filled with top soi l up to at least 14 em from the base. The top IOcm should be filled with sa w du t (Fig. I ). Fig. I : Polybag nursery Tree-ripened fruits (that have fallen by themselves) are elected. It is advi ed not to germinate fruits that have been plucked from the tree. eed extracuon is by carefully cu tting out completel y the fleshy pericarp (pulpl. and was hing the nut using sand and water. Allo\ving the pulp to rot naturally and washing in \.vatcr reduce:- the germinal ion percentage b) about :wec. Dr) the nu t:-. in a shade for one or two days. Prolonged drying for more than a week rc~ ult s in decrea~ed seed vi abilit) . Avo1cl ~un drying. Pl ant seed~ within two or three days after ex traction. To avoid the incidence of damping-off treat seeds with Ben late or other potent fungicides before sowing. After sowing, move the poly bags to a shade and arrange in 10 x 100 or 20 x 50. Water daily. Avoid over-watering to prevent water logging and damping off disease. Apply fertilizer when nutrient deficiency symptoms e.g. chloro is ar~ noted. Apply water soluble fertilizer, NPK dissolved in water from time to time. I kg NPK may be applied in about 6 doses for 2000 eedling . Germination starts 3 weeks after planting and may continue for another 4 weeks. 2.3 Budding: I 0- 12 months after germination, the eedling are ready for budding. Budding is done at about 15- 20 em height u ing the inverted " T" cut. Rootstocks to be bud ded should not be less than 0.5cm in diameter at a height of !Scm from the soil surface. Obtain budwood from healthy mature flow ering trees. It is recommended to bud during the rainy season. 2.4 Land Preparation: Land preparation for field planting is done between ovemher and March. The operation involved include: clearing, fel lin g of un wanted trees. cross-cut ting. packi ng and burning. A rter bu rning. marking ou t or the planting ite follow. The spacing of 7m x 7m is recommended. 7 This gives a population of about 200 stands in a hectare. After marking out. dig planting hole 60 em x 60 em x 45 em. Fill the holes with well decomposed organic mater and top oil two weeks before transplanting. Do not put inorganic ferti lizer into planting holes at transplanting of seed lings. This may be harmful to the young eedlings. 2.5 Field Establishment: I 0-12 months after bud- ding, seed lings are ready for transp lanting. Thus seedlings are ready for field planting 20-24 months after sowing in the nurs ery ... Tran. planting i. done in the early pa~·t of the· rainy season as soon a the rains stabilize- i.e. May- June in the rain forest zones: and June- July in the savanna. Seedl ings should be tran ~ planted with the ball or earth around the root of the plant. If budded seedlings are planted, regularly check and prune off al l ~ide <.: hoot' from the stock. 2.6 Fertilizer Recommendation: Fertilizer applica- tion starts one year after l'ield establi..,hmcnt. II' the planting holes were well prepared (with well decomposed organic matter and top .... oil ). no chemical rcniliter i ~ required in th e fir:t year or es tablishment. Within the next year ( 1-4 years after planting) and if the soil is fai rly rich to rich, an application of 0.25kg/stand or NPK ( 15: 15: 15; I 0: I 0:20 or NPK M g 12: 12: 17:2) or any other compound fertilizer having NPK may be applied. Fertilizer ap plication hould be done during the rainy season. I f however the soil is poor, the dosage could be increased to 0.5kg/stand. The plants are ri ng weeded before broadca Ling the fertilizer aro un ~ each stand once a year. 2.7 Topping: This is a management practice whereby all the growing shoots of the plant are shaped by clipping (prunning or training). In lrvingia, this i . a '"tam·ing" process. In the tradi tional system regular bush burning and farming activities take care of"topping". Topping has the following advan tages: a) It gives the tree the des ired shape - " dome" instead of the conical shape that the tree is naturally prone to. b) lt e.x po ~e~ more l eave~ to ~u nli gh t thereby en hancing ph0- tosynthesis and facilitating more fruit formati on. c) It encourages early flowering d) It controls the height or the plant. Between the seco nd and thi rd ye ar. and towa rd ~ the end or the rains. do the first topping (prunning). Thi ~ i: achieved by cutting back all the growing shoots. Repeat this yearly for the nex t 3 - 4 years. 2.8 Interplanting: Within the first five years of field life and until the lrvingia closes up all the elbow spaces", food crop - yam , cassava, Cocoyam, and vegetable can be planted within the lrvingia stands.