Identification and evaluation propagation techniques of Hypoestes forskaolii (Grbia) as bee fodder for smallholder farmers

摘要

HypoestesforskaoliiisoneofthemostimportanthoneybeeflorasofNorthernEthiopia.Howevertheplantiscurrentlythreatenedduetopopulationpressureandfarmlandexpansion.Moreover,forrapidpropagationoftheplantitspropagationtechniqueswerenotidentified.Thusthestudywasdesignedtoidentifyandevaluatedifferentpropagationtechniquesoftheplant.ThestudywasconductedinMekelleAgriculturalResearchCenter,Mekelle.DatawerestatisticallyanalyzedusingonewayANOVAanalysisofvariance.nbsp;Leastsignificantdifference/LSDwerecalculatedtoidentifysignificantdifferenceamongthetreatmentsusingGenstat13thversionstatisticalsoftware.Sixsuccessfulpropagationtechniquesoftheplantwereidentified.Theseweredirectcutting,cuttingsusingpot,transplantingseedlings,splittingordividingthemainbranchofthemotherplant,airlayeringandgroundlayering.Therewassignificantdifferenceamongthemeansoftechniquesoncanopycover,nbsp;floweringperiod,height,numbernbsp;offlowersandbranches,nbsp;andseedyieldperplant(p0.05).Splittinghadthehighestflowernumbers(2029);whileairlayeringhadthesmallestnumbersofflowers(703).Thenumberofflowershadpositivecorrelationwiththenumberofbranches,heightandfloweringperiodoftheplant.Finally,itisrecommendedtousesplittingasbestpropagationtechniqueofH.forskaoliiunderitsnaturalgrowingareasorunderin-situ.