Standardisation of soft wood grafting in mango (Mangifera indica L.)

Abstract

The present series of investigations were carried out in the Department of Pomology and Floriculture, College of Horticulture, Vellanikkara during the period from June 1987 to April 1989 with a view to standardise the ideal age of rootstock, height of grafting and the time of defoliation of scion shoot for soft wood grafting in mango using two scion varieties, Neelum and Banganapally. Detailed anatomical studies of the graft union were also conducted to find out the various stages of graft union and the possible reasons for graft failure. The results of the study on the response of agt of rootstock on soft wood grafting using scion variety Neelum showed that two months old rootstock was most ideal with regard to sprouting and survival. The sprouting was minimum for three months old rootstock while survival was minimum for one month old rootstock. With the scion variety Banganapally, one month old rootstock recorded significantly maximum sprouting over two and three months old rootstock. However, survival was maximum with three monthd old rootstock. The height of grafting did not influenee tht sprouting and survival of grafts in both Neelum and Banganapally. With regard to scion defoliation, variety Neelum recorded maximum sprouting and survival with 10 days prior defoliation. while in Banganapally scion shoots defoliated 15 days prior to grafting recorded maximum sprouting and survival. The observations on growth parameters revealed that three months old rootstock recorded significantly maximum new growth in scion variety Neelum till the end of 5th fortnight. But with Banganapally as scion, age of the rootstock did not influence the new growth of scion significantly, with regard to height of grafting., the pooled data revealed maximum new growth of scion when grafted at 10 cm height in both the scion varieties Neelum and Banganapally . in the variety Neelum, scions defoliated 15 days prior to grafting recorded maximum new growth during early periods of observation. But in Banganapally, scions defoliated 10 days before grafting were found superior with respect to new growth particularly during the early periods of observation. Regarding leaf production, in variety Neolura, the pooled data revealed the superiority of two months old rootstock particularly from 5th fortnight onwards. While in Banganapally , three months old rootstock was found to be the best in this regard. Grafting at 10 cm height produced maximum number of leaves in both the varieties Neelum and Banganappally, , In general in both the scion varieties scions defoliated 5 days prior to grafting produced maximum number of leaves, m the variety Neelum, the girth of new growth, scion and rootstock were significantly influenced by the age and height of rootstock and defoliation of scion shoots while in Banganappally, the effects were not found to be significant