Morphological traits of Moringa oleifera cv Honghe under dry tropic conditions

Abstract

The potential use of Moringa oleifera, generates interest to investigate the potential characteristics of promising genetic materials. With the objective of morphological characterization Moringa oleifera cv Honghe plants based on height and basal diameter of plants, number of branches and leaves, number of fruits per plant, length and equatorial diameter of the fruit, number of seeds per fruit and per kilogram, weight, length and diameter of each seed, survival rate, beginning of flowering and fruiting during its initial establishment, a study was carried out at the National Center for Agricultural Research (CNIA) of the Nicaraguan Institute of Agricultural Technology, in Managua, Nicaragua , with 12 trees established at a planting distance of Four meters between rows and between plants in an area of 172.50 m². Descriptive statistics were used for data analysis. The results show a survival rate of 91.66 %, height 277.16 cm, basal diameter 5.13 cm, number of leaves 51, number of branches seven, beginning of flowering, at three months of age, with 100 % flowering, at five months of age, beginning of fruiting at 5.5 months of age, with 100 % fruiting with seven months of age. Fruit production per plant was 65 ± 27, fruit length 52.83 ± 5.22 cm, equatorial diameter 1.93 ± 0.38 cm and 21 ± 4 seeds per fruit. The seeds presented mean weight of 0.3366 ± 0.06 grams, length 11.38 ± 1.35 mm, diameter 10.26 ± 0.99 mm and 3.002 ± 30 seeds per kilogram. These results allow to conclude that Moringa oleifera cv Honghe is a promising genetic material because it is a very early and fast growing cultivar, compared to other provenances and cultivars evaluated by other authors in our country.