Résumé
Highlights: • Controlled mycorrhization and rock phosphate fertilization were two important tools to domesticate indigenous fruit trees with an emphasis on Z. mauritiana. • Controlled mycorrhization and rock phosphate fertilization improved growth and nutrition of indigenous fruit trees in nursery. • Increasing of survival and fruit production of jujube trees in orchards was due to arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal inoculation. • Persistence of the introduced arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus with little disturbance in native ones on roots of jujube trees.Abstract:Ziziphus mauritiana Lam. also named Indian jujube is an important indigenous fruit tree (IFT) to rural people as a source of food and income, whereas it is neglected and underutilized in the West African agroforestry systems. Domestication of Z. mauritiana can help to preserve its genetic resources, to cultivate its germplasm and to improve its fruit production in orchards. Controlled mycorrhization and rock phosphate (RP) fertiliza-tion are two approaches to domesticate Ziziphus mauritiana Lam. by improving its growth, nutritional status and fruit production in the P-deficient soils. Here, we review the following (i) relative mycorrhizal depen-dency (RMD) of Z. mauritiana compared to six Ziziphus spp. [Z. lotus (L.) Lam., Z. spina-christi (L.) Desf., Z. mucronata Willd., Z. amphibia A. Chev., Z. abyssinica A. Rich. and Z. sphaerocarpa Tul.] and eleven ITFs [Adanso-nia digitata L, Aphania senegalensis Radlk, Anacardium occidentale L., Cordyla pinnata (Lepr. ex A. Rich.) Milne -Redhead, Dialium guineensis Wild., Landolphia heudelottii A.DC., Sclerocarya birrea (A. Roch.) Hochst., Saba sen-egalensis (A. DC.) Pichon, Balanites aegyptiaca (L.) Del., Parkia biglobosa (Jacq.), Tamarindus indica L.], (ii) response to arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) inoculation and RP fertilization on Z. mauritiana growth and nutri-tion in nursery, (iii) impact of an introducing exotic AM fungus on already existing AM fungal assemblages in roots of jujube trees after planting, (iv) role of AM fungi and RP fertilizer on growth and fruit production of two Z. mauritiana cultivars (Gola from India and Tasset from Senegal) after planting in arid and semi-arid regions of Senegal. Z. mauritiana provenances and cultivars (Gola and Tasset) appeared to be higher depend on AM fungi than Ziziphus spp. and IFTs. In AM Z. mauritiana seedlings inoculated with Rhizophagus irregularis IR 27, the highest phosphorus dose of RP applied (250 kg P per ha) produced the best plant growth regardless of the sources of the phosphorus applied. The growth-promoting effects of pre-inoculated jujube with the exotic strain R. irregularis IR 27 in nursery was still maintained 18 months after planting, with significant higher rates of survival and an increase of fruit production for inoculated jujube cultivars without distur-bance of native AM fungal communities. Inoculated Tasset cultivar gave the highest mean number of fruits (c.a. 300 and per tree), twice the amount of that obtained for Gola, whereas highest mean fresh weight of fruits was obtained for inoculated Gola cultivar (c.a. 670 g per tree). Success and sustained positive effects of pre-inoculation with R. irregularis IR27 hold promise for the role that AM fungal inoculum could play within fruit production of other fruit trees cultivated in West African orchards.