ABSTRACT
Germination and growth of winged and dewinged fruits of Triplochiton scleroxylon under two light regimes was conducted in the Department of Forest Resource and Wildlife Management, University of Benin. The arboretum and nursery in the department of forest resource and wildlife management were used for the different light regimes. The arboretum was used for the shade experiment, while the nursery was used for the light experiment. winged and dewinged fruits were sown in both light and shade environment. The light and dewinged treatment (A1), the light and winged (A2), the shade and dewinged (B1), the shade and winged (B2). The experiment is in two phases; germination phase, growth phase. The germination phase was carried out on a germination bed. four germination beds were constructed; two beds were constructed in the arboretum, the other two beds were constructed in the nursery. 250 seeds were planted in each germination bed, making a total of 1000 seeds used for the experiment. Emergence of seedlings were recorded. The number of emergence in various plots were 98, 77, 74 and 63 seedlings in plot A1, A2, B1, and B2 respectively. The germination percent were 39.2, 30.8, 29.6 and 25.2 for PLOT A1, A2, B1, and B2 respectively. the germination period was 10 days across all plots.
At the end of the germination phase, 312 seedlings were recorded as the total germinant in the experiment. Four (4) replicates with ten (10) seedlings each were selected at random from each plot. A total of 40 seedlings were sampled from each plot. Seedling height, collar diameter and number of leaves are measured in the sampled seedlings. Light intensity was measured 3 times in a day, for 5 weeks. The means of the light intensity were 66.60 and 3.67 for the light and shade environment respectively. The mean of the seedling height (cm) were 31.7, 30.7, 8.0 and 8.0 for A1, A2, B1, and B2 respectively. The mean of the collar diameter (mm) is 3.28, 3.23, 1.54, and 1,47 for A1, A2, B1 and B2 respectively. the mean of the number of leaves were 3.28, 3.22, 1.53, and 1.46 for A1, A2, B1 and B2 respectively. there was no significant difference between A1 and A2, and also B1 and B2. There was significant difference at A and B i.e between the light and shade environment.
At the termination of the study, the destructive phase was carried out by measuring the leaf area and shoot to root ratio. The mean of the leaf area (cm2) were 74, 81, 7.8, 6.8 for A1, A2, B1 and B2 respectively. there was no significant difference between A1 and A2, and also B1 and B2. There was significant difference at A and B i.e between the light and shade environment. The mean of shoot to root ratio were 3.14, 3.0, 2.35, and 2.15 for A1, A2, B1 and B2 respectively. there was no significant difference between the treatments for shoot to root ratio. Therefore, it is recommended that the seeds should be sown in both light and shade environment, but the seedlings should be transplanted early to a light environment after emergence. Wing and dewinging does not affect germination and growth, light also does not affect germination but it affects the growth.
