Standardisation of softwood and epicotyl grafting in Garcinia. cambogia Desr.

Abstract

The investigations on standardisation of softwood and epicotyl grafting in Garcinia cambogia was carried out in the Department of Pomology and Floriculture, College of Horticulture, Vellanikkara, Trichur during the period, 1990-92. The studies revealed that seed coat removal or seed treatment with growth regulators increased the final percentage of seed germination compared to control though there was no significant difference between the treatments. Seed coat removal could enhance the seed germination remarkably. After the beginning of germination seeds with intact seed coat completed germination within seven weeks while those seeds without seed coat required only five weeks for the same. In order to obtain an early and higher germination, seed coat removal along with seed soaking with 500 ppm GA for 12 h could be adopted. This treatment registered 90.667 per cent germination. Softwood grafting on 18 months old G. cambogia rootstock was found to be the best method of vegetative propagation compared to epicotyl grafting (using G. tinctoria rootstocks) and double grafting (using different combinations