Effect of Leafy and Leafless Greenwood, Softwood and Hardwood Cuttings Success of <i>Garcinia kola</i>(Heckel)

Garcinia kola Heckel, called “petit cola” in Côte d’Ivoire and “bitter kola” in Nigeria, is a Non-Timber Forest Product of great socioeconomic importance. Unfortunately, this species is threatened due to overexploitation and deforestation. This study tested the effect of leaf area on stem cuttings to regenerate vegetatively in a non-mist poly-propagator without using exogenous hormones. Three stem cuttings types: greenwood, softwood and hardwood (12 - 15 cm in length) were collected from 24-month years old seedlings. The two top leaves of each cutting type were conserved at different leaf area: 0 cm2, 28.25 cm2, 56.5 cm2, 84.75 cm2 and 113 cm2 (entire leaf area). Observations were made on rooting, sprouting and leafing abilities of cuttings depending to treatments applied. Results showed that all cutting types have presented good ability to shooting and rooting. Cuttings with 113 cm2 leaf areas presented the best rooting (94.44% ± 2.42%) and shouting (95.55% ± 2.42%) percentage and longest primary root length (12.03 ± 0.50 cm). Hardwood, softwood and greenwood cuttings with 113 cm2 leaf area had the best rooting percentage (96.66% ± 3.33%, 96.66% ± 5.77% and 90.00% ± 5.77% respectively). The longest primary root length (13.50 ± 0.97 cm) was observed to greenwood cuttings with 113 cm2 leaf area. Regenerated plants in the forest presented well survival percentage (96.66%). This study shows that it is possible to regenerate entire plants by cuttings without using external hormones in non-mist poly-propagator.