Comparative study of the agronomic suitability of three types of moringa in Burkina Faso

Titre courant : Performances agronomiques de trois types de moringa

Abstract

In Burkina Faso, very little is known about the agronomic performance of moringa. The aim was to contribute to a better understanding of the agronomic suitability of three types of moringa at the juvenile stage: Moringa oleifera Lam, Moringa PKM1 and Moringa stenopetala (Baker f.) Cufod. The germination experimental set-up was a Fisher block with three replicates and two treatments: Tₒ for the control, T₁ (seeds soaked for 24h). The set-up for comparative growth did not take into account seed treatment. Results revealed germination rates of 41.67% for unsoaked M. oleifera; 63.89% for soaked M. oleifera and soaked M. PKM1; 86.11% for unsoaked M. PKM1; 83.33% for unsoaked M. stenopetala and 75% for soaked M. stenopetala, respectively. Soaking the seeds for 24 h had no significant effect on germination rates. M. stenopetala and M. PKM1 showed better growth vigour than Moringa oleifera. Further work with a variety of soaking times will enable us to identify the best soaking time. A real-life study would enable in-depth agronomic characterization of the three types of moringa.