Fruit morphological diversity and productivity of baobab (Adansonia digitata L.) in coastal and lower eastern Kenya

ABSTRACT Baobab (Adansonia digitata L.) is an indigenous fruit tree of great importance in African drylands. In Kenya, the species’ potential is not fully utilized and domestication could help in increasing its usage. This study aimed at assessing the variability in morphological fruit traits and productivity of baobab trees in two regions of Kenya in order to select superiorelite trees for domestication. Data were collected from 71 fruiting baobab trees in the coastal area of Kilifi County and the inland regions of Kitui and Makueni Counties. All fruits per tree were counted and 10 fruits harvested for morphological characterisation. Productivity per tree was calculated and correlation analysis between selected fruit traits performed. Most (60%) of the 71 studied trees had ellipsoid fruit shapes. Median productivity in weight of fruits per tree was significantly higher in accessions from the coast (87.7 kg/tree) than from the inland region (29.5 kg/tree; p < .001). Median fruit length and weight were significantly higher in the coastal as compared to the inland region (22.1 versus 14.2 cm and 376 versus 155 g, respectively; p < .001 for both). Similarly, median pulp weight was significantly higher in samples from the coast than from the inland region (61.3 versus 27.2 g; p < .001), while pulp proportion was similar between the regions (median 16.9% of the whole fruit weight, range 13–23%). Fruit weight correlated significantly with pulp weight (r = 0.948; p < .001), but not with pulp proportion. Two superiorelite trees with high fruit weight, high pulp proportion and intermediate or sweet tasting fruit pulp were selected each in the two research regions. Further studies including genetic characterization should be done to identify the sources of variation among the trees in Kenya. Our findings may contribute to the domestication and increased utilization of this important indigenous fruit tree in Kenya and beyond.