TREE DOMESTICATION FOR AGROFORESTRY - PRESENT STATUS AND FUTURE-DIRECTIONS

Seven different activities constitute tree domestication: (1) manipula tion of tree populations by silvicultural practices; (2) enhancement o f site productivity; (3) control of destructive agents; (4) evolution of trees under natural selection; (5) semi-natural selection for survi val in the socio-agricultural circumstances in which trees are grown; (6) conscious human selection for desired characteristics; and (7) cor related response to selection (which usually involves reduction of tho se plant parts that are not desired). Each of these activities is disc ussed, and its contribution to the present makeup of tree populations used for agroforestry is considered. Although tree domestication has b een practiced by farmers for many centuries, selection and breeding pr ograms for multipurpose agroforestry trees have existed for only the p ast thirty years. Some of the problems faced by existing tree improvem ent programs are discussed; these include: multiplicity of usable spec ies, great demand for multipurpose trees (MPTs), existence of improvem ent programs with few species, difficulty of combining desired traits in a multipurpose ideotype, high cost and slow progress with present m ethods, and the fate of improved material introduced on farms. Among t he solutions,considered is more involvement of farmers in the process of selection, testing, and propagation of MPTs. The possible use of sp ecies mixtures also holds promise.