Contribution à la domestication de l'arganier pour la production de l'huile

A survey conducted in 5 sites in the argan tree forest showed that argan oil represents an important part of the users' incomes. Nut-breaking is the most time-consuming and tedious step for the women involved in oil production. In 3 sites, the women were capable of distinguishing between those trees that yield nuts easy to break and trees yielding nuts difficult to break. These trees were named F and D, respectively. In each site, fruits were harvested from trees identified as F or D by the users, or at random. Those fruits were characterized by a set of measurements, including the force needed to break the nuts. Our measurements pointed out that the nuts harvested from F trees require a lo…