Domestication Syndrome in Dacryodes edulis (Burseraceae): Comparison of Morphological and Biochemical Traits between Wild and Cultivated Populations.

For millennia, people have harvested fruits from the wild for their alimentation. Gradually, they have started selecting wild individuals presenting traits of interest, protecting and cultivating them. This was the starting point of their domestication. The passage from a wild to a cultivated status is accompanied by a modification of a number of morphological and genetic traits, commonly known as the domestication syndrome. We studied the domestication syndrome in Dacryodes edulis (G.Don) H.J.Lam (known as 'African plum' or 'safoutier/prunier'), a socio-economically important indigenous fruit tree species in West and Central Africa. We compared wild and cultivated individuals for their sex distribution; flower, fruit and seed morphometric characteristics; seed germination temporal dynamic and fruit lipid composition. We found a higher percentage of male and male-hermaphrodite sexual types in wild populations than in cultivated ones; a lower fruit and seed mass in wild individuals; and similar mean time of germination, oil content and fatty acid composition between wild and cultivated individuals. Our results are interpreted in light of the presence of a domestication syndrome in D. edulis.

Climate change resiliency choices of small-scale farmers in Cameroon: determinants and policy implications.

Climate variability and change has continued to wreak havoc on the agricultural sector, with small-scale farmers being the most hard-hit. The limited adaptive capacity of small-scale farmers faced with the impacts of climate variability and change principally explains their high level of vulnerability. It is within this framework that this study sought to examine the specific resiliency choices of small-scale farmers faced with climate variability and change in Cameroon, and the plausible policy implications. Data was collected through a survey of 300 small-scale farmer household heads as well as climate data collected from meteorological stations. Data analysis was run on Microsoft Excel 2007 and SPSS 20, employing descriptive and inferential statistics. Findings showed significant fluctuations in climate parameters in recent years. The main resiliency choices of small-scale farmers faced with climate variability and change were on-farm practices (23%), off-farm practices (19%), and agroforestry practices (28%); with 30% of the sampled farmers taking to the no resiliency option. A statistically significant (p < 0.01; p < 0.05; and p < 0.10) causal and non-causal relationship was found to exist between independent variables (household size, age of household head, number of farms, farm size, household income, farm experience, gender, experience of extreme weather events, access to weather information, access to extension services, access to credit, distance to market, access to land, and membership in farming group) and small-scale farmers' practice of different resiliency options faced with climate variability and change. This shows that small-scale farmers' practice of different resiliency options faced with climate variability and change is determined by past experience of extreme weather/climate events as well as socio-economic and institutional factors. On the basis of these findings, it is recommended that policy makers factor in these determinants when taking actions geared towards enhancing small-scale farmers' resilience to climate variability and change.