Tissue Culture of Threatened African Hardwood Tree Species
摘要
Many African hardwood tree species provide valuable products and services. However, compared to introduced conifers, they are considered slow-growing. Hence, natural regeneration alone cannot sustain their production, necessitating the development of managed tree stands that can continually feed the ever-increasing demand. To generate adequate planting stocks, propagation difficulties including low fecundity, slow fruit and seed development, low seed viability, seed dormancy, and recalcitrance to vegetative propagation such as rooting of cuttings and grafting need to be overcome. Tissue culture offers a solution to propagation difficulties through rapid production of quality germplasm and a high multiplication rate of selected clones. During tissue culture, in-vitro rooting and subsequent acclimatization are the most challenging stages, resulting in poor survival rates at the protocol development stage in some instances. Results of some numerous successful cases show that the massive demand for commercially crucial African tree species could potentially be met through tissue culture. The present chapter discusses the utilization of tissue culture techniques in the multiplication of African tropical hardwood tree species including methods that enhance success, challenges encountered, and potential for augmentation of these applications for improved productivity at a time of increasing demand for tree products and services.