Response of sweet orange cultivars budded on Carrizo at different time intervals

In order to evaluate the response of sweet orange cultivars budded on different time intervals a research trial was carried out in the nursery of Department of Horticulture, Khalsa College, Amritsar during the year 2019-2020. The trial was conducted with three different sweet orange cultivars (Blood Red, Jaffa and Valencia Late) budded on five different intervals (First week of July, August, September, October and February) in Randomized Complete Block Design with factorial arrangement replicated thrice. The analysis of data showed a significant variation for growth response of sweet orange cultivars irrespective of budding intervals. The sweet orange cultivar Blood Red gave maximum bud sprouting (63.94%), budding length (15.16 cm), budding girth (8.79 mm), number of leaves buddling^-1 (21.62) and took less days to sprouting (28.30). Different budding intervals used significantly affected the sweet orange cultivars. The maximum bud sprouting (73.28%), budding length (15.54 cm), budding girth (9.01 mm), number of leaves buddling^-1 (21.64) and survival (91.99%) was observed in the plants budded on first week of September and also the minimum days to sprouting (26.46). The interaction between sweet orange cultivars and budding intervals was also significant on almost all the parameters. The Blood Red cultivar budded on Carrizo rootstock in the first week of September produced plants with maximum sprouting, budding girth, number of branches buddling^-1 and number of leaves buddling^-1 also took minimum days to sprouting. Hence, Blood Red cultivar of sweet orange budded in first week of September can aid in the production of superior plants of sweet orange on commercial basis.