Standardization of method of orchard establishment and propagation in Aonla (Emblica officinalis Gaertn.) for rehabilitation of degraded pasture/grazing lands

To standardize the most suitable method of orchard establishment and propagation technique in aonla (Emblica officinalis) on degraded pasture/grazing lands, an experiment with 5 methods of orchard establishment (in-situ raising of seedlings/rootstocks, transplanting of one month old seedlings/rootstocks raised in poly bags, transplanting of one year old seedlings/rootstocks raised in poly tubes, transplanting of ex-situ raised grafts/budlings in poly bags and transplanting of ex-situ raised grafts/budlings in nursery) and 5 methods of propagation, i.e. patch budding, shield budding, chip budding, forkert budding and wedge grafting, was conducted during 2006 and 2007. In each case, 10 plants were taken as a unit. Activated but unsprouted scion buds and scion sticks, 10 cm long, were taken from matured shoots of aonla cv. NA-7. Various budding/grafting operations were performed following years during last week of June. Among the 5 methods of orchard establishment, transplanting of one month old seedlings/rootstocks raised in polybags recorded the highest bud sprouting(69.33%) as well as bud/graft survival(79.18%). Among the 5 methods of propagation, patch budding had the highest percentage of success (80.33%), closely followed by the chip method (77.67%). Chip budding resulted in the highest bud/graft survival of 80.71% followed by patch budding(78.89%). Chip budding also took a minimum of 11.27 and 15.27 days for initiation and 50 per cent completion of bud sprouting. Based on these results, transplanting one month old seedlings/rootstocks raised in poly bags and performing chip budding next year during last week of June can be recommended for the rehabilitation of wastelands on a commercial scale for the economic utilization of such wastelands through aonla.