TITLE:
Ecological Structure and Fruit Production of African Fan Palm (Borassus aethiopum) Populations
AUTHORS:
Christine Ouinsavi, Charlemagne Gbémavo, Nestor Sokpon
KEYWORDS:
Ecological Structure, African Fan Palm, Fruit Production, Population
JOURNAL NAME:
American Journal of Plant Sciences,
Vol.2 No.6,
December
5,
2011
ABSTRACT: Ecological structure and fruit production of African fan palm stands in Benin were studied on the basis of surveys laid out in ten (10) populations located in three ecological zones. Dendrometric and fruit production parameters such as: diameter at breast height (dbh), total height (TH), number of fruit bunch per tree, number of fruits per tree, number of seeds per fruit, fruit length and width were measured on all African fan palm trees within thirteen (13) plots of 1,000 m². Diameter and height classes distribution of the palms in each ecological zone adjusted to Weibull distribution showed a bell shaped curve with left dissymmetry, characteristic of young stands (form coefficient between 1 and 3.6). African fan palm stem number was 156 trees/ha. Variation of dbh, TH, number of fruit bunch per tree were highly significant between populations and ecological zones (P