Abstract:
Nowadays, attention is being paid to exploration of possibilities of exploiting
new and under-utilized plant resources with the aim of meeting the growing
societal needs. Calotropis procera is one among the many under-utilized
species despite its many economic and ecological uses. This study was done to
characterize the phenology of the species and determine its potential for
domestication for wool production. Phenological data was used to generate
charts that depicted the flowering and fruiting phenophases for three
provenances for four seasons. The data was subjected to Test of Homogeneity
of Variances to isolate significant differences in study parameters. Spearman
rank pair-wise correlations between wet seasons and flowering were done.
Flowering intensity in different months of the year was significantly different
(p<0.05) with clear-cut flowering phenophases. Flowering and fruiting
durations and active phases were significantly longer and high (p<0.001)
during the wet seasons and spearman rank correlations between wet seasons
and flowering ranged from 0.89 to 0.96 and were highly significant (rs, pair-
wise correlations, p<0.0001). A very low flower to fruit ratio was recorded.
The study concluded that C. procera can do well as a plantation crop and has
a high potential for production of wool. The strongest impediment to
flowering and fruiting was periodic attack by Aphis nerii. It is recommended
that propagation seeds for C. procera should be sourced from the local
provenances to reduce the effects of seed source transfer distance.
