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NIGER
Guizotia abyssinica (L.f. ) Cass., family Compositae

Niger is grown for its seeds, which yield a yellow, edible semidrying oil with little odor and a pleasant nutlike taste. The oil is used in cooking, oil lamps, soaps, and paints; the pressed cakes are used for livestock feed; and the seeds are fried and eaten or used in chutneys or as a condiment. According to Purseglove (1968*), niger is grown primarily in Ethiopia (100,000 to 200,000 tons of oil produced per year) and India (75,000 tons per year). Chavan (1961) stated that India had 716,000 acres of niger.

Plant:

The plant is a branched annual herb, l/2 to 1 l/2 m tall. The period of growth of the plant to the time of flowering is about 3 months, then another 1 1/2 months are required to ripen the seeds. Pure stands yield 350 to 400 pounds of seed per acre (Purseglove 1968*).

Inflorescence:

The yellow 2- to 3-cm flower heads develop in the leaf axil, two to five in a cluster. Each head contains about eight ray florets and 40 to 60 hermaphrodite disk florets (Free 1970*). Within the disk floret, the anthers are united to form the corolla tube. The style extends through this tube, and the hairy forked stigma is above. The floret opens and liberates its pollen early in the morning, the style emerges about midday, and the stigma lobes separate and curl backward toward evening.

Pollination Requirements:

Howard et al. (1919) found that cross-pollination was common. They reported that the stigma lobes rarely curled back sufficiently to touch their own style, indicating that the plants were self-sterile. This explains why isolated plants set no seed. Although the flowers are hermaphrodite, they are not self-pollinating. Bhambure (1958) confined plants in two cages 1.2 by 1.2 mm, and tagged 40 flower heads in each cage. In one of these cages, bees (Apis cerana) were introduced. In the cage with bees, 40 seeds per head developed. In the one without bees, only 15 seeds per head were harvested. Chavan (1961) obtained similar data.

Pollinators:

The meager data indicate that this important crop is largely dependent upon pollinating insects, and growers who desire maximum bee activity in the field would do well to provide an ample bee supply to each field where seeds are desired.

Pollination Recommendations and Practices:

None.

LITERATURE CITED:

BHAMBURE, C. S.
1958. EFFECT OF HONEY BEE ACTIVITY ON NIGER (GUIZOTIA ABYSSINICA CASS.) SEED PRODUCTION. Indian Bee Jour. 20: 189 - 191.

CHAVAN, V. M.
1961. NIGER AND SAFFLOWER 150 pp. Indian Cent. Oilseeds Com., Hyderabad.

HOWARD, A., HOWARD, G. L. C., and RAHMAN, K. A.
1919. STUDIES IN THE POLLINATION OF INDIAN CROPS. India Dept. Agr. Mem.. Bot. Ser. 10: 195 - 220.

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