Description and Uses
Adansonia digitata (Boabab lemonade) is a
tropical
tree from
East Africa . It is mainly grown for its
fruit crops
, which have a
long shelf life. The crop is harvested by
ground gathering. It starts flowering after
16 -
23 years. The yield will be
20 fruits/tree/year, but in its top season there will be a yield of
65 fruits/tree/year. Other crop types include;
fuel, fodder, timber, poison herbicide, ornamental, fruit, gum resin. The
fresh leaf fruit is used as
super food . The
fresh leaf is used as "
high vitamin-C content, anti-inflammatory, " with
ascorbic acid (0.50% -
0.60%) as its significant
phytochemical. There is
boabab seed oil extracted by
steam distillation from the
tree's
seed/nut yielding
14% -
15% oil. The
tree's wood is called
Boabab wood and has a density of
310 -
330 kg/m³. Regarding firewood production the
tree's growing speed is
moderate, it's energetic value is
4550 ckal/kg and the wood's drying speed is
slow. After
200 years the
tree can be totally removed as it reached its commercial and ecological goal.
Adansonia digitata has a lifespan of
1,000 years.
Environmental limitations
The tree is
25 meters tall with a crown of
10 meters wide. The
tree prefers a planting distance of
600 cm and a row distance of
600 cm. It is
moderate fast growing and
intolerant to shade.
Adansonia digitata has a
shallow root-system and it has symbiotic associations with the
Glomus intraradices fungi
(endo-mycorrhiza). It is
not able to fix nitrogen with
"any bacteria. The name(s) or string of bacteria include(s)
"not applicable ". The
tree's flower-morphology is
dioecious and is pollinated by
bees.
Adansonia digitata is
deciduous in dry season and
a bit allelopathic and has
no thorns.
Adansonia digitata thrives in an altitude of
5 to
1500 meters above sea-level
(tropical). The minimum temperature is
1°C; optimally between
19 -
28°C. The optimal rainfall is
750
mm/year. Without irrigation the annual rainfall should be between
250 -
1000mm (L/m²). The optimal soil-pH is between
5.0 -
7.0 in a soil texture of
sand. To salt it is
a bit tolerant to wind
tolerant and to fire
tolerant.
Pests and Diseases
Adansonia digitata is susceptible to the following pests:
Diparopsis castanea
, Earias biplaga
, Helicoverpa armigera
, Dysdercus fasciatus
, Dysdercus intermedius
. Dysdercus nigrofasciatus And it's susceptible to the following diseases:
no disease ,
,
.
Seed Propagation
Seeds are
orthodox and can be stored for
84 months. There are approximative
30000
seeds/kg. The seeds can be propagated as followed:
- (1) Store harvested seeds dry at room temperature
- (2) Soak the seeds overnight in warm water before sowing.
- (3) press the seeds twice its size in the soil soil.
