In the Blue Nile Gorge of Ethiopia

By Andualem Taye
1

August 2002

Andualem Taye is a consultant in Natural Resources Management, P.O. Box 20726, Addis Ababa; Tel. 01-491710 (Res.), 519114 (Off.), 09-242403 (mobile), Fax: 251-1-515577, E-mail: suda@telecom.net.et

Abstract
Key words (flowering, germination, soaking, vegetative propagation and wilding) Village Level Resource Management Project undertook production of incense, protection of existing trees and enrichment plantation of frankincense trees. However, lack of knowledge on propagation techniques was identified as a major handicap to its plantation and protection effort. Thus, a pilot experiment on the propagation techniques of the trees was initiated in early 1997. The trees are surveyed weekly to record the beginning and end of flowering and fruiting time. After ripening of the fruits, seeds were collected for counting seeds per kilogram and planting. For propagation from seeds three treatments (immersing the seeds in boiled water for 1520 minutes, immersing seeds in cold water for 12 and 24 hours and control) were applied. For vegetative propagation using rooting of stem technique, high yielding genotypes (in terms of quality and quantity) were identified; then a portion of a stem with leaf and axillary bud was cut from parent plant and planted in the nursery site. Whereas, for wildings seedlings grew under wild conditions were collected and planted in the nursery until planting time. Soaking the seeds in cold water for 12 hours gave the highest germination rate in both years. On the other hand, seeds treated with boiled water did not germinate totally. During field planting, seedlings raised from seeds in the nursery show slower growth rate in comparison to seedlings from cuttings and wildings.

Introduction
Farmers in the Blue Nile gorge (195 km from Addis Ababa on Addis to Bahir Dar Road) are suffering from chronic food insecurity due to land fragmentation as a result of rapid population growth, frequent drought, soil degradation and lack of alternative employment opportunities. In order to mitigate this problem Canadian Physicians for Aid and Relief (CPAR) initiated Village Level Resource Management Project with a financial assistance of the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany. To meet this objective the project designed various strategies such as intensifying and diversifying agricultural production, natural resources management activities, promotion of off-farm employment opportunities for landowners and landless community members. According to the assessment made at the end of the inception period (July 1997) of the project, about 38% of the farmers in the area do not own agricultural land; thus, they depend mainly on unwise exploitation of the dwindling forest resources of the valley for fuel wood and charcoal production. These farmers need alternative income source to abandon charcoal and fuel wood sale to travelers. In order to provide these landless farmers in the area with alternative income opportunities, the project organized interested individuals in the production of frankincense and gypsum. The frankincense in the area (Boswellia papyrifera) has become quite scattered with further threats from deforestation for fuel wood and expansion of farmlands. In spite of the various goods and services obtained from the species, its stock has been deteriorating and natural regeneration has been impeded by human and livestock interferences, forest fire, termite and insect infestation, lack of systematic tapping, expansion of agricultural lands to marginal areas, demand for fuel and construction wood and lack of knowledge on its propagation methods. Therefore, the project planned to undertake both production of incense, protection of existing trees and undertaking of enrichment plantation of frankincense trees. However, propagation techniques of the tree were unknown. Thus, a pilot experiment on the propagation techniques of the trees was initiated in early 1997. The seedlings produced using

different methods and treatments were planted out in the field with the participation of beneficiary communities. This paper, therefore, summarizes the main findings of this pilot experiment in 1997 and 1998.

Description of the Tree B. papyrifera (Del.) Hochst, known commercially as bitter frankincense, is one of the two most common species of the family Burseraceae found in Ethiopia; the other being B. rivae Engl. The species is hardly more than 12 m high, with thick branches tipped with cluster of leaves, and rounded crown. Bark is smooth, pale yellow brown, peeling off in large papery pieces. A cut looks red-brown and a fragrant milky resin drips out (Azene Bekele-Tessema, 1993). Information on the pattern of distribution of resin canals on B. papyrifera is, however, lacking.

Distribution Boswellia papyrifera is found in Acacia-commiphora woodland and wooded grassland, in the dry kola agroclimatic zones (500-1500 m a.s.l. temperature of 20-25C, and rainfall less than 900 mm per annum) of western Tigray, Gondar and Shewa regions, often on steep rocky slopes, lava flows or sandy river valleys (Azene Bekele-Tessema, 1993). Its distribution in Africa includes Nigeria, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, The Sudan, and North East Uganda (Fitchl and Admassu Adi, 1994)

Uses B. papyrifera is very suitable for the productive reforestation of dry savannah and dry rocky slopes (Stiles, 1988; Fitchl and Admassu Adi, 1994). It produces an oleo-gum-resin called gum olibanum or true frankincense. The resin is used as incense burning in the Roman Catholic, Orthodox, and Coptic churches and in some countries for household uses. It is also employed in fumigation powders and pastilles, as the starting material for the distillation of an essential oil and the extraction of an absolute resinoid, fabrication of perfumery, varnishes

and adhesives in painting industries, and as laxative ingredient in pharmaceutical industries (Ahmed Taib, 1982).

Production The people in the study area were not using the incense until recently except for home consumption after collecting the incense from natural wounds. Later farmers from Tigray showed the bleeding and collection techniques around 1990. Harvesting of resin can take place most of the year by scrubbing the bark for resin-gum droplets. The yield of resin increases beginning from December to end of May. Tapping is recommended before the vegetative and reproductive organs begin to form and bloom. Tapping is done by scrubbing the bark since the resin canals are found in abundance within the bark. According to the tappers experience and belief, tapping can be done in 20-25 days interval using an instrument called mingaf. A tree can be tapped for more than 10 times per year until the onset of rains and olibanum is collected at each tapping. One to three kg of olibanum is collected from a tree per annum, depending on the girth of the tree and potential of the site. Wound healing is attained after a resting period of 3-5 years. The productive age of the tree is 50-60 years (Tialhun G/Medhin, 1997).

Propagation Frankincense trees produce leaves with small showers of rain that start in April. The leaves drop sometime in November at the beginning of the dry season. The plant can be propagated from seeds and cuttings (Azene Bekele-Tessema, 1993; Fitchl and Admassu Adi, 1994). Propagation is easy from cuttings that are to be cut shortly before foliation of the trees and to be planted in the nursery.

Objectives to identify flowering and fruiting time; to know the best treatment methods for achieving the highest germination rate; to identify germination percentage for seedlings raised from seeds, wildings and cuttings; to know the time needed to get plantable size of seedlings.

Methodology
The trees are surveyed weekly to record the beginning and end of flowering and fruiting time. After ripening of the fruits, seeds were collected for counting seeds per kilogram and planting. For propagation from seeds three treatments (immersing the seeds in boiled water for 15-20 minutes, immersing seeds in cold water for 12 and 24 hours) and control (without any treatment) were applied. For vegetative propagation using rooting of stem technique, high yielding genotypes (in terms of quality and quantity) were identified in consultation with farmers; then a portion of a stem with leaf and axillary bud was cut from parent plant and planted in the nursery site. Whereas for propagation from wildings, seedlings grown in the wild were collected from the field, transplanted into the nursery site and the percentage of survival, time needed to reach transplantable size as well as any occurrence of disease and pest were closely monitored. The planting and transplanting dates and height were recorded to determine the period needed for seedlings to reach appropriate height for transplanting. The study was not well designed to yield statistically verifiable data. Moreover, it was replicated temporally for two years but not spatially; therefore, it was found difficult to explain some of the variations observed. Unfortunately, some non-experimental variables were not also properly standardized across the treatments. Therefore, it is difficult to ascribe all the differences to the treatments alone. Nonetheless, the result may shed light on the treatments worth further in-depth investigation with proper experimental designs.

Results and Discussion

Flowering and Fruiting Periods The sweet smelling flowers develop on loose heads at the ends of thick branchlets, appearing before the new leaves. The red flower stalk up to 35 cm long bears the white pink flowers with 5 petals and 10 yellow stamens (A. Bekele-Tessema, 1993). The pyriform or the pear shaped fruits are red capsules about 2 cm long, dividing into three valves with three hard seeds inside. The capsules are borne at the ends of reproductive branchlets. B. papyrifera tree produces leaves with showers of small rainy season sometime in April. It also shed its leaves at the beginning of the dry season, around November. Flowering commences in October and start shedding at the beginning of December, although some trees maintain their flowers much longer. Most of the fruits mature beginning from middle of November and drop before the second half of January.

Propagation from Seeds Up to present, the species is not cultivated in Ethiopia. It propagates from natural seed germination. The germination rate was between 60 and 87 % for all treatments except for hot water treatment that gave no germination; this is high in comparison to results in Somalia on a different species of the same Genus. According to experience from Somalia on B. carteri and B. freareana seed germination test was carried out both in laboratory and nursery using different hormones such as gibberlic acid-3, cytokinin and auxin. From the experiment, the percentage germination was reported to be less than 8%. On the other hand, Bergstrom et. al. (1982) have reported a survival of 75-80%. In Somalia, survival of the transplanted plants was promising although the yield of gum was low (Mohamed, 1974/75). Since it is a drought tolerant species it develops a deep taproot and in the nursery, the ratio of root to stem growth is 3:1; hence, require root pruning. On average, it reaches plantable size within 4-5 months.

Table 1. Raising form Seeds

No
1 2 3 4 5 6

Date of Sowing
13/04/97 15/04/97 17/04/97 20/04/97 05/05/98 05/05/98

Treatment made before sowing

Seeds soaked in boiled water and stayed there for 15-20 minutes Seeds soaked in cold water and stayed there for 24 hours Seeds soaked in cold water and stayed there for 12 hours Without treatment Without treatment Seeds soaked in cold water and stayed there for 12 hours

Date of

Germination

germination % age
30/04/97 02/05/97 12/05/97 30/05/98 21/05/98 Nil 60 85 70 74 87

Remarks
Totally failed Attacked by termites2 Aldrin was applied before and after sowing Aldrin was applied before and after sowing Chloride was applied before and after sowing Chloride was applied before and after sowing

The seeds collected in the second year (1998) did not germinate; so seeds collected in 1997 were planted in 1998. This might raise a doubt that the tree may produce dormant seeds in some years, which needs to be further investigated. Tilahun Gebre Medhin (1997) reported a high incidence of insect attack and a high proportion of embryolessness in the B. papyrifera seeds. Soaking the seeds in cold water for 12 hours gave the highest germination rate in both years. Soaking seeds in water is done to modify hard seed coats, remove inhibitors, soften seeds and reduce the time needed for germination (Hartmann and Kester, 1975). It is likely that hydrolytic processes begin during presoaking and the resulting simple sugars that are released can be utilized for synthesis immediately up on germination (Copeland and McDonald, 1995). Cold presoaking at moderate temperature (20C) is sometimes conditioning for germination, i.e., it provides protection from chilling injury during the subsequent germination at low temperature (5-15C). But in the Blue Nile gorge where the trial was conducted chilling injury is not likely to be the reason for low germination in 1998 since the temperature range at that altitude is above the threshold value.
2

No chemical was used for this treatment

On the other hand, seeds treated with boiled water did not germinate totally. This result reconfirms what Tilahun, 1997 stated that Gibberellic acid-3 (except at 10-3M), nicking and distilled water treatments resulted in a significantly high percentage of germination. Whereas, a complete inhibition of germination was observed on seeds treated with sulphuric acid, and hot water presoaking). Seed germination is subject to a very precise regulation, the complexity of which originates both in the action of various external factors and in characteristics within the seeds themselves. This phenomenon, which leads to the growth of preformed organs of the embryo, can only occur if all environmental components (water availability, oxygen supply, temperature, and sometimes light) are suitable (Tilahun G/Medhin, 1997). Consequently, three conditions must be fulfilled before germination will begin. First, the seed must be viable; that is, the embryo must be alive and capable of germination. Second, internal conditions of the seed must be favorable for germination; that is, physical or chemical barriers to germination must be removed. Third, the seed must be subjected to appropriate environmental conditions (Hartmann and Kester, 1975). According to Hartmann and Kester (1975), in some cases fruits may mature and may contain only shriveled and empty seed coats with no embryo or with one that is thin and shrunken. Such seedlessness may result from several causes: first, parethenocarpy, i.e., the development of the fruit without fertilization; second, embryo abortion, i.e., the death of the embryo during its development, and third, the inability of the embryo to accumulate the required food reserve. In general, the factors affecting germination are seed viability, dormancy or environmental factors. The inhibitory action of seed coats can be much reduced simply by presoaking, scratching or puncturing them.

Propagation from Cuttings Even though trees can be propagated using a number of different techniques (rooting stem cuttings, grafting, budding, layering and in-vitro tissue culture system) due to its ease and

wide application, rooting of stem cutting was used for this experiment. The result of the propagation of seedlings from rooting of stem cuttings is presented in Table 2. Table 2. Seedlings Production from Cuttings
Date cuttings collected 13/04/97 12/04/97 Planting Date 14/04/97 12/04/98 Number of Date the 1st Germination (%) 30 60 Remarks (anti-termite application) Aldrine was applied Chloride was applied

Cuttings Planted 142 2000

Shoot Appeared 15/05/97 10/05/97

High yielding genotypes were identified with the participation of local farmers, a portion of a stem with a leaf and axillary bud was cut from parent plant and transplanted to the nursery site. The result indicated that the species can readily be propagated using stem cuttings to offset the possible irregular seed supply of the tree. Root establishment from the cuttings takes only 4 months at which time the propugules are ready for transplanting in the field. Shoots appear on the cuttings, on average after only a month.

Propagation from Wildings Under this treatment, naturally regenerated seedlings were collected from the field and transplanted into the nursery site. The wildings are collected from under big Boswellia papyrifera trees. Under the existing natural system, these wildings (wild seedlings) die off from trampling by animals while they look for shade from the intense sunshine. Consequently, saving these seedlings by transplanting into the nursery site until they are big enough for planting into the field is a good strategy to save the young seedlings. Table 3. Growing Wild Seedlings
Date wildings collected 13/04/97 05/05/98 No 11 1296 of wildings Date 1st shoot appeared 23/04/97 23/05/98 Germination (%) 91 88 Remarks (anti-

collected and planted

termite treatment) Aldrine was applied Chloride was applied

In order to compare their survival rate, the seedlings raised using all the three methods were planted in the field around mid July during the main rainy season. Seedlings raised from seeds showed slow growth rate in comparison to the other two methods; but all the seedlings shade their leaves in November as other trees of the same species.

Conclusions and Recommendations

Given the imprecise design of the experiment and short time taken for the study, it is impossible here to provide any conclusive results. Based on the germination results of 1998, there is an impression that in some years the tree may produce infertile seeds. This fact deserves further studies to know whether the plant produces infertile seeds in some years and the reasons for infertility. During field planting, seedlings raised from seeds in the nursery show slower growth rate in comparison to seedlings from cuttings and wildings.

10

Acknowledgement
I am grateful for CPAR Jarso field staff for collecting and providing the data; particularly Ato Aklilu, Ato Kemal, Ato Ephrem, and Ato Aman.

11

References
1. Ahmed Taib 1982. The Swiss, Italian and Finnish Markets for Ethiopian Gum Olibanum. Progress for Development Cooperation. The Helsinki School of Economics. 2. Bergestrom, T.; Person, A.; Thulin, M. and Warfa A.M. 1982. Domestication of frankincense trees. Travel report from the first tour in the project. Mimeographed, 58pp 3. Copeland, L.O.; and McDonald, M.B. 1995. Seed science and Technology (3rd ed.) Chapman and Hall, New York, 409 pp. 4. Fitchl, R. and Admassu Adi 1994. Honey bee Flora of Ethiopia. Mergraf Verlag, Germany 510 pp. 5. Hartmann, H.T. and Kester, D.E. (1975). Plant propagation principles and practices. Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, pp 1-180 6. Mohammed, A.A. (1974). Some studies on frankincense plants (Boswellia spp.). Thesis of degree (Laurea), Faculty of Agriculture, National University of Somalia, Mogadishu. 44 pp. 7. Stiles, D. (1991). Arid land plants for economic development and desertification control. Desertification control bulleting. 17:18-21. 8. Tilahun Gebre-Medhin, 1997. Boswellia papyrifera (Del.) Hochst from Western Tigray Opportunities, Constraints and Seed Germination Responses. Thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of an M.Sc degree in forestry to the Swedish Agri. Sci.

12