Effect of time and intensity of tapping on the gum yields of Acacia seyal var. seyal in South Kordofan, Sudan

• Published in: Forests, trees and livelihoods Vol. 16; no. 3; pp. 219 - 225
• Main Authors: Fadl, K.E.M, Gebauer, J
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Taylor & Francis Group 2006
• Subjects: Acacia; Acacia seyal; branches; gum arabic; multipurpose trees; non timber forest product; nontimber forest products; NTFP; Sudan; talh; temporal variation; tree tapping; trees; yields; Sudan
• DOI: 10.1080/14728028.2006.9752561
• ISSN: 1472-8028

A. seyal var. seyal (talh*) is an important multipurpose tree of the agro-silvo-pastoral systems in semi-arid South Kordofan. The species produces gum which is collected from natural exudation by the rural people. However, little information is available about the tapping possibility of A. seyal var. seyal. Therefore, a two-factor experiment was carried out at Umfakarin forest reserve in 2001/02. The first factor was time of tapping, which was tested in three levels (1st Nov., 15th Nov. and 1st Dec.). The second factor was tapping intensity, which was tested in four levels (2, 4, 6 and 8 branches). The results of the present study revealed the possibility of talh gum production by tapping A. seyal var. seyal. The tapping date had a significant effect on the amount of gum production. Trees in this experiment produced the highest gum yield when they were tapped on the 1st of November. However, the tapping intensity did not show a clear effect on the gum yield. Therefore, a tapping intensity of from two to four branches is recommended in order to minimize the likelihood of damaging the A. seyal var. seyal tapped trees.