Research Journal of Agriculture and Biological Sciences, 5(6): 1146-1152, 2009 © 2009, INSInet Publication Corresponding Author: Dickens E. Dolor, Department of Forestry & Wildlife, Delta State University Abraka, Nigeria. E-mail: dickensdolor@ yahoo.co.uk. 1146 Effect of Propagation Media on the Rooting of Leafy Stem Cuttings of Irvingia wombolu (Vermoesen). Dickens E. Dolor, Felix O. Ikie and Godwin U. Nnaji 1 2 2 Department of Forestry & Wildlife, Delta State University Asaba, Nigeria. 1 Department of Agronomy, Delta State University Asaba, Nigeria. 2 Abstract: The effect of propagation media on the rooting potentials of juvenile stem cuttings of Irvingia wombolu was assessed in an experiment conducted at the Teaching and Research Farm of the Delta State University, Asaba Campus, Nigeria. Seven different propagation media namely fine sand (FS), a 50:50 mixture of fine sand and sawdust (FS+SD), medium sand (MS), a 50:50 mixture of medium sand and sawdust (MS+SD), coarse sand (CS), a 50:50 mixture of coarse sand and sawdust (CS+SD), and sawdust (SD) were used for the experiment. The results revealed a significant (P = 0.05) effect of media on rooting percentage with fine sand recording 52.7 %, coarse sand + sawdust (51.6 %), Medium sand + sawdust (48.9 %), medium sand (46.1 %), fine sand + sawdust (43.9 %), coarse sand (42.9 %) and sawdust (41.5 %). Similarly, root length and cutting mortality were significantly (P < 0.002) influenced by media. From the results of this study, fine sand is recommended as an appropriate media for optimum rooting of I. wombolu stem cuttimgs. However, coarse sand-sawdust mixture may be an alternative. Key words: Irvingia wombolu, vegetative propagation, soil media. INTRODUCTION The tropical rainforest of West and Central Africa are endowed with high value multipurpose trees. Many rural household of these regions depend heavily on these resources for their food, medicinal and construction needs . Irvingia. gabonensis and I. [1,5,6,25,33] wombolu have enormous potential, both in economic terms and as species for sustainable production . The [2] trees are valuable sources of income for West and Central African farmers through the sales of kernels which fetch a price higher than the fruits . [5] The high value of the species to farmers , long [18] gestation period of seed sown trees , poor [19,30] germination capacity , variability of fruits, kernel [31] characteristics and tree size and limited knowledge [19,34] base , indicates the need for improvement of the [37] species for domestication. Vegetative propagation may greatly facilitate the process of domestication of Irvingia and other fruit trees by enabling the rapid multiplication of selected genotypes and the production of superior planting stock , and shortening [13,22, 24,28] fruiting time for farmers . It is against this backdrop [30] that efforts are being made to domesticate this species through participatory approaches which places greater emphasis on the social and economic needs of the farmer by involving them in all the stages of the domestication process, which include identifying the improvement objective they desire and the rapid multiplication of selected genotype and production of superior planting stock for farmers through clonal means. A wide variety of factors may influence the rooting ability of a number of tropical trees . According to Loach , the [10,11,17,20,21,27,28] [26] percentage rooting and the quality of the roots produced are directly influenced by the medium, which is an integral part of the propagation system. Poor rooting might be a consequence of the rooting media used and despite its apparent disadvantages, pure sand has recently become more popular for economic reasons . [17] This study was to assess the effect of different media on the rooting of the juvenile stem cuttings of I. wombolu. MATERIALS AND METHODS The experiment was carried out at the Delta State University, Asaba Campus (06º14´N and 06º49´E) in Oshimili South local Government Area of Delta State, Nigeria. Asaba lies in the tropical rainforest zone with annual rainfall range of 1500mm to 1849.3mm. Mean temperature are 23.3ºCelsius with a maximum of 37.3ºCelsius. Mean monthly soil temperature at 100cm depth and sunshine is 28.3ºCelsius and 4.8 hours respectively . [4] A propagation unit was established in the Department of Forestry and Wildlife for the experiments. The propagator consisted of a metal frame measuring 3.05m x 6.10m x 2.14m and enclosed in a