TITLE:
Post Debarking Response of Prunus africana (Hook. F) Kalkman (Rosaceae) Trees at Two Exploitation Sites in North Kivu (Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo)
AUTHORS:
Kambale Eloge Muhesi, Musubao Moïse Kapiri, Jean Lagarde Betti, Ndongo Din
KEYWORDS:
Dendrometric Parameters, Regeneration Capacity, Tree Reconstitution Rate, Debarking, Prunus africana, DR Congo
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Forestry,
Vol.13 No.2,
March
2,
2023
ABSTRACT: Prunus africana is a species of great economic, medicinal and
ecological importance. Due to its multiple uses, unsustainable exploitation
methods and low regeneration capacity in tropical rainforests, this species is
threatened with extinction. Present and exploited in the eastern part of DR
Congo, knowledge of the dynamics of post-bark regeneration of Prunus
africana remains fragmentary and poorly known. In North Kivu province, this
species thrives in both afromontane forest and lowland tropical rainforest
habitats. In order to contribute to the
rational and sustainable exploitation of Prunus africana in this
province, this paper was carried out with the objective of contributing
to the knowledge of the dynamics of the regeneration of post-harvest bark of Prunus
africana in two exploitation sites (low and high altitude). To achieve this
objective, the inventory was conducted on 16 plots of 25 hectares each, with 8
plots per site. Dendrometric parameters (diameter at breast height (DBH), total
tree height) and tree growth and regeneration parameters, i.e., stem bark
thickness of the unharvested and harvested portions of the trees (bark
reconstitution) were measured. A total of 716 barked stems of Prunus
africana in 2016 in 25 hectares constituted the study sample. Results show
that sites do not influence diameter at breast height of P. africana trees (p > 0.05) or total tree height. The
bark diameter of harvested trees and the bark diameter of unharvested trees
varied significantly by site (p 0.05).
In contrast, the annual growth rate of bark differed with altitude; the highest
rate was observed in trees growing at high altitude (2.97 ± 0.9
mm/yr) compared to 2.23 ± 0.74 mm/yr at low altitude. In view of these results, this study
indicates that a half-rotation of 7 years could allow an effective
reconstitution of the bark of Prunus africana at the second passage on
the remaining side of the same stem.