Abstract

Mistletoes are parasitic flowering plants that attack plants like cocoa and kill branches distal to point of attachment. Consequently, cocoa farmers incorporate trees to provide shade to limit germination and establishment of Tapinanthus bangwensis mistletoe species, but without success. This study was conducted in South-Western Ghana to identify causal factors of mistletoe infestation using random forest (RF) regression. Spatial arrangement of cocoa trees was the most important factor explaining mistletoe density, which was significantly higher in farms planted at random than in rows. The results imply that planting cocoa trees in rows could mitigate mistletoe infestation of Ghana’s cocoa agroforests.

摘要

槲寄生是寄生开花植物，会攻击可可等植物并杀死附着点远端的树枝。因此，可可种植者种植树木以提供遮荫以限制Tapinanthus bangwensis槲寄生物种的发芽和建立，但没有成功。这项研究在加纳西南部进行，旨在使用随机森林 (RF) 回归确定槲寄生侵扰的成因。可可树的空间排列是解释槲寄生密度的最重要因素，随机种植的农场的槲寄生密度明显高于成排种植的农场。结果表明，成排种植可可树可以减轻槲寄生对加纳可可混农林的侵扰。