Orateur
Description
It is very documented that the loss of biodiversity has contributed to biological invasion, understorey vegetation growth, declining water quality and forest protection against vagaries of climate change. In Burundi, while the reforestation consisted of wide use of fast-growing exotic tree plantation like Eucalyptus spp., Pinus spp. and Acacia spp., with so much controversies such as exhaust water and soil nutrient resources, there is a preponderance view that indigenous trees reforestation may play a great role in plant biodiversity and human plant medicinal consumption.
The aim of this paper is to carry out a comparative analysis on seed germination of four indigenous tree varieties so that they may be used for reforestation and enhancing biodiversity in their ecosystems. An experimental research was on four indigenous tree varieties were chosen based on their socioeconomic and biodiversity importance: Maesopsis eminii (Umuhumure) ; Albizia gummifera (umusebeyi), Entandrophragma excelsum (Umuyove) and Prunus africana (Umuremera). Three substracts were separately prepared in which 100 seeds of each varieties were planted and their growth were monitored daily in were controlled nursery.
From October to December 2023, data were collected after 5 days on the following indicators, growth, cinetic and duration of germination. Analytical tools such as anova and regression were applied. The number of grain germinated increased as the time goes by but it is the variety Umuhumure which marked with a higher and steady growth than other variety and Umusebeyi, 80 out of 100, tops in the number of grain germinated after three months. The study shows that rates of growth were 74, 37, 29 and 14 out of 100 for Umusebeyi Umuremera, Umuyove and Umuhumure respectively. On overall, with one-way ANOVA, means of grains germinated of the three indigenous trees are significantly different (<0.01) when grain variety factor is considered but when the interaction between variety and replication are also considered (two-way ANOVA), the two have a significant effect on the number of grains germinated (<0.01).
Other findings are the effect of the germinated grains depends on the number of replication and period of grains growth (in terms of days). 6% and 48% variations explain the interaction between replication and type of variety on one hand and the number of variety growth on the other hand. We recommend that the Albizia gummifera (Umusebeyi) to be considered when the reforestation of indigenous tree is undertaken. However, other varieties may be used if the right substracts and growth conditions are found.
