<p>In recent years, the epicotyl grafting, technique is gaining popularity in propagation of mango. The plants produced by this method are found to be uniform, healthy and requiring less area for propagation and ultimately cheaper in cost. The cost of production of seedling rootstock is minimized to a great extent. In order to meet the growing demands for plant material, it was felt necessary to standardize epicotyl grafting in commercial mango cultivars like Dashehari, Langra, Amrapali and Mallika.</p><p>The random seedling (open-pollinated) rootstocks of uniform height, thickness and size and age (8–10 days old) germinated in polybag were selected for grafting on the day of grafting, the scion shoots 1–2 months old having 0.4 cm thickness and 8 cm length and free from pest and diseases were selected from the mother trees. During August, 15 wedge grafts of each of 4 cultivars were prepared by following the method suggested by Majumder and Rathore (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="bib003">3</xref>). The grafts were prepared in poly bags and kept in open for observations. The success of grafts and other growth parameters were recorded at monthly intervals and final survival was recorded after six months of grafting.</p><p>Dashehari recorded maximum success followed by Langra and Mallika (<xref ref-type="table" rid="tab001">Table 1</xref>). Amrapali showed minimum success of 53.3%. This might be due to the variation in the genetic make up, which influences the histological and physiological development with the shoots. The percentage survival of epicotyl grafts in different cultivars was also reported to vary (Kulwal and Tayde, <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="bib002">2</xref>; Hulmani and Kumar, <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="bib001">1</xref>; Radha and Aravindakshan, <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="bib005">5</xref>). <table-wrap id="tab001"><label>Table 1</label><caption><p>Response of mango cultivars to epicotyl grafting and scion growth.</p></caption><table><thead><tr><th rowspan="3" align="left">Character</th><th colspan="4" align="center">Cultivar</th><th rowspan="3" align="center">C.D. at 5%</th></tr><tr><th colspan="4"><hr /></th></tr><tr><th align="center">Langra</th><th align="center">Dashe-hari</th><th align="center">Amra-pali</th><th align="center">Mallika</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td colspan="6"><hr /></td></tr><tr><td>Graft sprouting (%)</td><td align="center">86.7</td><td align="center">93.3</td><td align="center">73.3</td><td align="center">86.7</td><td align="center">5.7</td></tr><tr><td>Graft establishment (at 1 month)</td><td align="center">73.3</td><td align="center">86.7</td><td align="center">53.3</td><td align="center">73.3</td><td align="center">6.9</td></tr><tr><td>Graft success (at six months) (%)</td><td align="center">60.0</td><td align="center">80.0</td><td align="center">53.3</td><td align="center">60.0</td><td align="center">5.8</td></tr><tr><td>Average height of new graft (cm)</td><td align="center">17.5</td><td align="center">24.1</td><td align="center">13.2</td><td align="center">15.5</td><td align="center">4.3</td></tr><tr><td>Average girth of new graft (mm)</td><td align="center">3.2</td><td align="center">3.6</td><td align="center">2.9</td><td align="center">3.4</td><td align="center">NS</td></tr><tr><td>Days taken for first sprouting</td><td align="center">14.2</td><td align="center">13.4</td><td align="center">13.2</td><td align="center">12.5</td><td align="center">NS</td></tr><tr><td>Rootstock girth (mm)</td><td align="center">5.4</td><td align="center">5.2</td><td align="center">5.2</td><td align="center">5.2</td><td align="center">0.2</td></tr><tr><td>Scion girth (mm)</td><td align="center">4.9</td><td align="center">4.6</td><td align="center">5.3</td><td align="center">5.7</td><td align="center">0.2</td></tr><tr><td>Scion length (mm)</td><td align="center">24.5</td><td align="center">31.3</td><td align="center">20.0</td><td align="center">22.5</td><td align="center">4.2</td></tr><tr><td>No. of leaves per graft</td><td align="center">9.3</td><td align="center">9.8</td><td align="center">11.9</td><td align="center">10.9</td><td align="center">1.8</td></tr></tbody></table></table-wrap></p><p>The study has clearly indicated the possibility of adopting epicotyl grafting on a commercial scale in different popular cultivars with high survival percentage. At six months after grafting Dashehari showed vigorous nature, recording heighest scion length and maximum height of new graft. However, Malika recorded maximum scion girth as compared to other cultivars.</p></sec></body><back><ref-list><title>References

IJH

Indian Journal of Horticulture

0972-8538

The Horticultural Society of India

ijh-61-3-021

SHORT COMMUNICATION

Response of mango cultivars to epicotyl grafting

Gurudutta

P.S.

Jain

Vijay

Singh

P.N.

Department of Horticulture, Indira Gandhi Agricultural University, Raipur 492 006, Chhattisgarh

*Corresponding author's E-mail: vijay14668@yahoo.co.in

92004

61326726712200212200322004

<p>In recent years, the epicotyl grafting, technique is gaining popularity in propagation of mango. The plants produced by this method are found to be uniform, healthy and requiring less area for propagation and ultimately cheaper in cost. The cost of production of seedling rootstock is minimized to a great extent. In order to meet the growing demands for plant material, it was felt necessary to standardize epicotyl grafting in commercial mango cultivars like Dashehari, Langra, Amrapali and Mallika.</p><p>The random seedling (open-pollinated) rootstocks of uniform height, thickness and size and age (8–10 days old) germinated in polybag were selected for grafting on the day of grafting, the scion shoots 1–2 months old having 0.4 cm thickness and 8 cm length and free from pest and diseases were selected from the mother trees. During August, 15 wedge grafts of each of 4 cultivars were prepared by following the method suggested by Majumder and Rathore (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="bib003">3</xref>). The grafts were prepared in poly bags and kept in open for observations. The success of grafts and other growth parameters were recorded at monthly intervals and final survival was recorded after six months of grafting.</p><p>Dashehari recorded maximum success followed by Langra and Mallika (<xref ref-type="table" rid="tab001">Table 1</xref>). Amrapali showed minimum success of 53.3%. This might be due to the variation in the genetic make up, which influences the histological and physiological development with the shoots. The percentage survival of epicotyl grafts in different cultivars was also reported to vary (Kulwal and Tayde, <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="bib002">2</xref>; Hulmani and Kumar, <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="bib001">1</xref>; Radha and Aravindakshan, <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="bib005">5</xref>). <table-wrap id="tab001"><label>Table 1</label><caption><p>Response of mango cultivars to epicotyl grafting and scion growth.</p></caption><table><thead><tr><th rowspan="3" align="left">Character</th><th colspan="4" align="center">Cultivar</th><th rowspan="3" align="center">C.D. at 5%</th></tr><tr><th colspan="4"><hr /></th></tr><tr><th align="center">Langra</th><th align="center">Dashe-hari</th><th align="center">Amra-pali</th><th align="center">Mallika</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td colspan="6"><hr /></td></tr><tr><td>Graft sprouting (%)</td><td align="center">86.7</td><td align="center">93.3</td><td align="center">73.3</td><td align="center">86.7</td><td align="center">5.7</td></tr><tr><td>Graft establishment (at 1 month)</td><td align="center">73.3</td><td align="center">86.7</td><td align="center">53.3</td><td align="center">73.3</td><td align="center">6.9</td></tr><tr><td>Graft success (at six months) (%)</td><td align="center">60.0</td><td align="center">80.0</td><td align="center">53.3</td><td align="center">60.0</td><td align="center">5.8</td></tr><tr><td>Average height of new graft (cm)</td><td align="center">17.5</td><td align="center">24.1</td><td align="center">13.2</td><td align="center">15.5</td><td align="center">4.3</td></tr><tr><td>Average girth of new graft (mm)</td><td align="center">3.2</td><td align="center">3.6</td><td align="center">2.9</td><td align="center">3.4</td><td align="center">NS</td></tr><tr><td>Days taken for first sprouting</td><td align="center">14.2</td><td align="center">13.4</td><td align="center">13.2</td><td align="center">12.5</td><td align="center">NS</td></tr><tr><td>Rootstock girth (mm)</td><td align="center">5.4</td><td align="center">5.2</td><td align="center">5.2</td><td align="center">5.2</td><td align="center">0.2</td></tr><tr><td>Scion girth (mm)</td><td align="center">4.9</td><td align="center">4.6</td><td align="center">5.3</td><td align="center">5.7</td><td align="center">0.2</td></tr><tr><td>Scion length (mm)</td><td align="center">24.5</td><td align="center">31.3</td><td align="center">20.0</td><td align="center">22.5</td><td align="center">4.2</td></tr><tr><td>No. of leaves per graft</td><td align="center">9.3</td><td align="center">9.8</td><td align="center">11.9</td><td align="center">10.9</td><td align="center">1.8</td></tr></tbody></table></table-wrap></p><p>The study has clearly indicated the possibility of adopting epicotyl grafting on a commercial scale in different popular cultivars with high survival percentage. At six months after grafting Dashehari showed vigorous nature, recording heighest scion length and maximum height of new graft. However, Malika recorded maximum scion girth as compared to other cultivars.</p></sec></body><back><ref-list><title>References1

Hulamani

N.C.

Kumar

D.P.

1997. Studies on epicotyl grafting in Alphonso and Pairi mango cultivars. Lal Baugh, 29: 1–3.2

Kulwal

L.V.

Tayde

G.S.

1985. Studies on propagation of mango by stone grafting extent of mortality. Abst. Second Int. Symp. on Mango. Bangalore, 20–24. May1985.3

Majumder

P.K.

Rathore

D.S.

1970. Epicotyl grafting in mango (Mangifera indica L). Curr. Sci. 39: 42.4

Madalageri

M.B.

Hulmani

N.C.

Patil

V.K.

1989. Response of mango varieties and hybrids to epicotyl grafting. Progr. Hort. 20: 173–75.5

Radha

Arvindakshan

1998. Response of mango varieties to epicotyl grafting on a commercial scale. Hort. J. 11: 25–31.