4. Other related activities
- Either prompted by the Multipurpose Tree Germplasm Workshop (see Section 2.1), or as a result of the MPTS data base project, a number of supplementary activities have been initiated and are now at various stages of development.
4.1 Rapid appraisal methodology for selecting priority species
- The "Master List of Multipurpose Tree and Shrub Species" contained in the "Multipurpose Tree and Shrub Seed Directory" published recently [8]
- comprises more than 1400 species.
- The improvement of germplasm for such a large number of potentially useful species would by far exceed the financial resources and time available.
- This calls for a shortlist of a few of the most promising species for each major ecological zone.
- Therefore a rapid appraisal methodology for species selection was drafted in 1983.
- It was then revised and published in 1984 under the title "Rapid Appraisal Methodology for Selecting Priority Multipurpose Tree Species and Criteria for Determining Status and Research Needs" [4]. A second revision, which attempts to refine and computerize it and to use the information contained in the MPTS data base, is now under way.
- The objective of the procedure suggested is to replace the subjective approach to priority species selection with objective and relevant criteria by which multipurpose tree species can be appraised fairly rapidly.
- By running promising species through a series of tables each species scores points on a number of relevant criteria, thus revealing its significance as a multipurpose tree and the degree of its suitability for agroforestry systems.