Seed Germination and Early Root and Shoot Growth of Prosopis juliflora (mesquite)

Abstract

Mesquite has been introduced into Sudan for the purpose of controlling land degradation and sand dune fixation. However, during the past three decades mesquite has naturalized in the country and started to pose some problems by being an alien invasive tree species particularly in irrigated areas in Sudan. The study aimed at understanding the competitive ability of mesquite through the study of the root and shoot development in three soil types. In present study, an attempt was made to study the growth of both the shoot and root systems to gather basic information about the development of the young seedlings in order to understand the best way to deal with the species distribution and control at its initial stage of growth. Tow experiments were conducted: The first one was an experiment on germination of seeds and the other dealt with investigations on the growth performance of the seedling in different germination Media and different soil types respectively. Result showed significant differences between germination media as well as between the soil types used. Information obtained was rather preliminary and need to be improved to sufficiently contribute to complete understanding of the species growth behavior and its control.