CLONING OF ERECT, THORNLESS, NON-BROWSED NITROGEN-FIXING TREES OF HAITI PRINCIPAL FUELWOOD SPECIES (PROSOPIS-JULIFLORA)

A progeny trial in Haiti compared 70 open-pollinated families of Proso pis representing seed sources from Haiti, Peru, Chile, Argentina and s outhwestern US. At the end of 4 years growth, the tallest 6 families w ere of Peruvian origin. Some of these Peruvian trees (probably P. juli flora) were thornless, had erect habit and were non-browsed by goats, unlike other thornless Prosopis alba families from South America. Scio ns from the 5 tallest spineless and most erect trees were transported from Haiti to Texas A&I University where they were successfully grafte d onto P. alba rootstock. These scions should have great potential for grafting onto existing weedy Prosopis and for grafting onto rootstock previously shown to tolerate salinities of seawater and pH values of 10.3.