rozendaleagroforestry's Journal

On a small plot of land different kinds of Adenanthera species are planted. Two of them are A. pavonina but look significantly different. One (a) has white and the other (b) yellow leaves. Also leaves (a) are rounder and smaller. The seeds were found in Con Dao Island (a) and Ho Chi Minh City (b). Another similar Adenanthera species (c) was found in a coastal forest, but also observed in Ho Chi Minh. It has red leaves and it seems to be a much shorter living tree, more vulnerable to diseases and physical damage. However, this project might only work with more expertise on plant breeding, I believe Adenanthera is not cross pollinating, so it is not much influenced by neighbouring species, except when the male or female parts are removed and pollen collected from another tree by bees.

Another experiment is going on with high valuable timber species (Afzelia, Intsia, Hymenaea and Sindora). Those might generate seeds from cross-pollination and maybe even yield hybrid seeds. All of them are within the same subfamily Detarioideae. Afzelia and Intsia are particularly closely related.

Such experiments make starts for breeding programs, but it will make selection of cultivars a longer process because of a higher variation in genes among seedlings. For perennial crops this takes too much time. I believe breeding perennial crops is done by describing as many seedlings as possible in nature or in farms. Any seedling with observed desired characteristics will be used as cutting or further breeding.