Survey of collection and handling of seeds of forest tree species and awareness of seed-borne fungi in four forest districts of the Ashanti Region, Ghana

Abstract

Forest trees’ seeds carry numerous seed-borne fungi which cause considerable damage to seedlings. These fungi can infect seeds while on mother tree, during seed collection and storage. To minimize seed-borne fungi damage, knowledge about them is imperative. Hence, this research sought to establish forest trees’ seeds collection, storage practices and awareness of seed-borne fungi infection of four Forest Districts in the Ashanti region of Ghana namely Offinso, Nkawie, Juaso and Mankranso. Respondents comprised only staff of Forestry Commission who are directly involved in seed collection and storage. Structured and semi-structured interview schedules were used for data collection. Data obtained were analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Science version 23. Descriptive statistics was used and means presented using tables and graphs. From the study, 33.3% of the respondents collected seeds from forest reserves by floor collection only as against plucking only (8.3%) while 58.3% collected seeds by both floor collection and plucking. All the respondents (100%) collected seeds between the months of November and March. Majority of the respondents (58.3%) and (100%) did not clean and treat seeds with fungicides before storage respectively. Most of the respondents (66.7%) mixed same seeds species but different mother trees for storage. Fifty percent of the respondents failed to keep records of seed mother trees and were also unaware of seed-borne fungi infection. It is recommended that, Forestry Commission of Ghana trains its forestry staff in the study areas through workshops on proper seed collection practices, storage and create awareness of seed-borne fungi infections among its staff.