The Effect of Type of Scion Stick on Success of Softwood Grafting in Cashew (Anacardium occidentals L. 'Vengurla-4')

摘要

Cashew is a dollar earning crop and has huge potential in the Indian economy. The area under cashew is increasing very rapidly in Konkan (1.85 lakh ha), hence supply of quality planting material is becoming a challenge to all nursery holders because of a shortfall of bud sticks within the stipulated period. The present investigation was carried out in October 2010 at the nursery unit of Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Lanja Ratnagiri with the aim to find out how far we can use the apical bud, auxiliary middleand lower bud of cashew to meet the requirement. Generally, propagation studies in cashew with softwood grafting were carried out with apical bud scion stick. In the present investigation grafting is done with three types of scion stick i.e., apical bud,auxiliary middle bud and lower auxiliary bud of the same branch. The maximum number of sprouted grafts, maximum sprouting percentage, maximum height of graft, minimum days for leaf emergence, maximum number of leaves per graft, minimum mortality (%) and maximum survival (%) of grafts were recorded in grafts when grafted with apical bud scion sticks. The maximum growth of girth (above the union) was recorded in grafts grafted with lower auxiliary bud scion stick but has lower survival percentage.