As of June, the ProKarité project has been working with the Vitellaria Database developed by Dr. Steve Maranz, on the basis of results from the 1998-2002 INCO Project on Improved Management of the Agroforestry Parklands of sub-Saharan Africa. Much further additional work and samples was contributed from Dr. Maranz and other project partners, resulting in a database of over 700 individual trees across much of the region, with a few significant pockets remaining.

During June and July, 46 samples were collected from 7 locations of western and central Mali, 20 samples were collected from Benin, and 8 samples were collected by project partners in southern Sudan - one of the ‘mystery areas’ in terms of definition of shea provenances.

The Vitellaria Database includes analysis of a uniform set of descriptive laboratory analysis – basically, oil (fatty acid) profile, total unsaponifiable content, and analysis of product parameters of market value. These include SOS fat content (including determination of proxy indicators such as stearic acid), unsaponifiable total and constituents – triterpenes (e.g lupeol, karitene, butyrospermol), catechins, tocopherols, quatriterpenes (e.g. carotene). Fruit pulp analysis was also carried out, possibly related to selection criteria over millennia of semi-domestication of the species.

This basic reference work will be continued and elaborated upon under the ProKarité project, specifically in order to define provenances for product certification in Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, and elsewhere in the region. Interested scientists from across the region are invited to contact ICRAF in order to plan collaborative or parallel activities across the shea zone, and internationally.

Samples from:
1997 IPALAC-ICRAF : Senegal, Burkina Faso
1999 European Union INCO parklands project (core data) : Mali,Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Uganda (core sample set)
2000 Ben Gurion University, Israel (Dibner Foundation) : Senegal, Cameroon
2001 CIRAD Foret collection : Cameroon
2001-02 University for Development Studies, Ghana : Ghana
Volunteers : Ethiopia, Cameroon, Chad
Steve Maranz : Senegal, Gambia, Guinea
Laboratory analysis by:
Ben Gurion University, Israel
Istituto Sperimentale per la Elaiotecnica, Pescara, Italy
Aarhus Oliefabrik, Aarhus, Denmark
Field data from:
COVOL Uganda : Peter Lovett
University of Ibadan : Prof. Odebiyi
IER Mali : Haby Sanou
This site is maintained by the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF)
With Support from the Common Fund for Commodities (CFC)
and the Netherlands Government
This database is freely available to all users as an open information source on Vitellaria paradoxa (syn. Butyrospermum paradoxum)'
Anyone wishing to publish information from this database should contact Steve Maranz
s.maranz@cgiar.org
Publication list from this database:
· Maranz, S., Kpikpi, W., Wiesman, Z., Saint Sauveur, A (de) and Chapagain, B. 2004. Nutritional values and indigenous preferences for shea fruits (Vitellaria paradoxa) in African agroforestry parklands. Economic Botany, 58(4): in press. · Maranz, S. and Wiesman, Z. 2004. Effect of climate on tocopherols in shea butter. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry,52: 2934-2937. · Maranz, S., Wiesman, Z., Bisgaard, J. and Bianchi, G. 2004. Germplasm resources of Vitellaria paradoxa based on variations in fat composition across the species distribution range. Agroforestry Systems, 60(1): 71-76. · Maranz, S. and Wiesman. Z. 2003. Evidence for indigenous selection and distribution of the shea tree, Vitellaria paradoxa (Gaertner), and potential significance to prevailing parkland savanna tree patterns in Sub-Saharan Africa north of the equator. Journal of Biogeography, 30(10): 1505-1516. · Maranz, S. and Wiesman, Z. 2003. Phenolic constituents of shea kernels (Vitellaria paradoxa). Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 51(21): 6268-6273.