Intercharacter Correlation between Budding Success in Hevea brasiliensis Muell. Arg. and Seven Weather Characters

Aim: To evaluate the relationship between budding success and weather factors.

Place and Duration of Study: Nursery site of the Rubber Research Institute of Nigeria, Benin City, Nigeria for three years.

Methodology: Seven weather characters were evaluated for correlation with budding success in Rubber Research Institute of Nigeria, Benin City, Nigeria. The seven weather characters were rainfall, relative humidity (RH) at 0900 hrs and 1500 hrs, minimum and maximum temperature, evaporation and radiation. Budding was carried out in the rootstock nursery and data on budding success was recorded over a period of six months for three consecutive years. Data for the corresponding six months was collated and for three years. Intercharacter correlation was calculated for budding success and the seven weather characters. The t-test was applied to test significance of the correlation coefficients.

Results: There was positive correlation between budding success and relative humidity at 0.74 to 0.82, while correlation between budding success was negatively correlated with evaporation at -0.83 to -0.88. Correlation between budding success and radiation was also negative at -0.77. Each significant weather character was significant in correlation with temperature. In this case, relative humidity was negatively correlated with temperature at -0.79 to –0.99. Correlation between evaporation and temperature was positive at 0.81 to 0.98 and radiation had significant positive correlation with temperature at 0.81 to 0.98.

Conclusion: The significant correlation coefficients between budding success and three weather characters suggest influence of climate change on budding success for production of planting materials of Hevea brasiliensis. This is an indication of appropriate location considerations for nursery facilities in order to enhance budding success. Path analysis to detect direct and indirect effects of the significant weather factors on budding success will be evaluated in further study.