Selection for adaptation in multipurpose trees and shrubs for production and function in agroforestry systems

Summary With the greater uniformity in site conditions in cultivated fields and higher levels of inputs (soil amendments and labour) for modern agroforestry systems, selection and breeding for optimal tree adaptation to site conditions and management practices call for strategies radically different from those for plantation forestry. Furthermore, specific requirements for the most efficient growth resource sharing arrangements between the tree and its companion crop call for evaluation both above-ground and below-ground tree growth characteristics in much greater details than has been the case for forestry practice.Specific adaptations in tree-soil relations are highlighted. Tree ideotype profiles are defined for a valuable fodder species (Calliandra calothyrsus) and a valuable timber species (Grevillea robusta). Results from half-sib progeny testing experiment on C. calothyrsus in alley farming system indicate differential adaptedness to frequent cutting for fodder production among the families after 6 cutting cycles (over a period of 2 years). If this differential response to frequent cutting among genotypes is confirmed, phyllomorphs which are more tolerant to this management practice could be selected for further improvement research.Excavation of 2 trees per family within G. robusta half-sib progeny testing experiments at two locations in Kenya provided the base for studying (a) variations in root growth patterns and (b) correlations between stem and root growth patterns in the background of efficient soil resource sharing strategies and of potentials for indirect selection for root growth characteristics. Analyses based on 7 categories of root growth and 7 categories of stem growth patterns involving 94 families selected in Australia and 60 families selected from landraces in Kenya indicate (a) insignificant variation among families in root growth patterns and (b) non existent or weak correlations between stem and root growth pattenrs.