Phenotypic Diversity and Characterization of Jojoba Populations Established in Western Saudi Arabia PDF

Keywords

Jojoba plants, Saudi Arabia, Phenotype

Abstract

Phenotypic characterization of a Jojoba population of 5165 plants established in western Saudi Arabia revealed that 52.8% of the population were males, 46.4% were females and 0.8% were of unknown sex 54 months from planting. Among the male plants, 34.9% were early flowering and 65.7% were late flowering whereas among females 46.9 % and 53.10% were recorded as early and late flowering respectively. Among the male plants, 19.8% were abundant pollen producers and only 0.22% had a prostrate growth habit. Among the female plants, 5.13% had a cluster bearing habit (i.e. fruits/node), 14.23% had fruits at every node and 9.12) had a high number of fruits per plant. Plant heights in the range 70-185 cm, crown diameters in the range of 65-200 cm, internode lengths in the range of 14-5.1 cm, seed yield per plant in the range of 0-1418g, oil or wax content in the range of 34.9-56.4% and protein content in the range of 9.5 to 49.5% were recorded in the course of three years of the study. These ranges are comparable to those reported in other parts of the world. Plant height, crown diameter and internode length were negatively correlated (P = 0.01) to one another. Wax content was negatively correlated (P ≤ 0.05) to plant height. The coefficient of determination (R2 = 0.111) indicated a low contribution of these traits in the total variability associated with seed yield, indicating the importance of directly selecting high yielding plants in yield improvement programs. Thus it is concluded that jojoba can be introduced as a commercial crop in Al-Medinah area. Additional work will be needed to select improved jojoba types for future plantations in Saudi Arabia