Improving indigenous knowledge of propagation for the development of Enset agriculture: promoting farmers’ adaptation capacity to climate change

Abstract

In order to provide knowledge for enset agriculture, seed germination, seedling development and vegetative reproduction were studied to envisage improved cultivars by crossing and selection and to enhance onfarm practices by acknowledging and evaluating farmers’ indigenous knowledge. Seed set vary considerably for enset, and the factors influencing fruit and seed developments should be studied further. Seed germination vary between seed lots from different mother plants, and requires additional studies even though placing the seeds on moist sand gives some germination from most seed lots. There was informal information that corms buried for vegetative reproduction would rotten if manure was applied directly on them or if they were watered. However, these two treatments gave large and strong suckers. When the corm was split in smaller (about 1 dm³) pieces, emergence was quicker and total production was higher than if the corm was kept entire. However, if there is risk for extended drought, using an entire corm is preferred for its water holding capacity. In the case of complete absence or little precipitation, watering on buried corm is beneficial if water is accessible.

Keywords/phrases: Conventional breeding, Seed germination, Seed morphology, Seedling, Vegetative propagation