In-situ establishment of ber orchard under hot arid ecosystem of Rajasthan

The studies were carried out to see the effect of cultivars and time of budding on bud sprout for in-situ establishment of ber orchard under arid ecosystem of Rajasthan. Four cultivars, viz. Gola, Mundia, Kaithali and Umran were patch budded on 15 July, 16 August and 15 September on juvenile boradi (Ziziphus mauritiana var. rotundifolia) rootstocks. The differences with respect to per cent success among cultivars and time of budding were significant. However, interaction effect between both the factors was not significant. The percentage bud sprouts were increased with succceeding date of observations in all the cultivars. Highest success was obtained in Umran budded on 15 September (81.4%), followed by Kaithali budded on 16 August (70.3%), Gola budded on 15 July (67.2%) and Mundia budded on 16 August (64.6%). The observations indicated that even under hot arid ecosystem of Rajasthan, in-situ ber orchard can be established successfully by patch budding but success varied significantly with cultivar and time of budding.