Abstract

The present study used vegetative and floral characteristics to investigate three Moroccan carob populations from different sites of Sefr ou province (Middle Atlas, Morocco). The presence of basal rejections in the carob tree indicates that the tree is not regu larly pruned by farmers. The average circumference of these re jections is greater at Sekoura M Daz where conditions are more beneficial as shown in l eaf characteristics (14.5 cm long, 10.9 cm wide, 7 leaflets and 4.12 cm long petiole), by comparison to Kandar Sidi Khiar. The leaf length and width, and petiole length are most discriminatory . However, the variation of these parameters would then be largely genotypically explaine d and secondly would be in relation to the provenance. The sex ratio is greater than one , showing that grafting both male and female trees in male and low carob bean-yield is ab sent. The percentage of developed fruit varies from 17.1 to 21.8%. In addition, place conditions would not explain the highly significant differences in floral and fruiting quantitative parame ters studied. .