Ecology, Environment and Conservation Paper

GRAFT COMPATIBILITY AND EFFECT OF ‘JASPI’ CLONAL ROOTSTOCK ON GROWTH AND FOLIAGE CHARACTERISTICS OF DIFFERENT CULTIVARS OF PEACH AND NECTARINE

Ritu Sharma and Amit Kumar

Abstract

To determine graft compatibility and effect of clonal rootstock ‘Jaspi’ (introduced from France) on scion characteristics of peach and nectarine cultivars, the present study was conducted in the Departmental field of Fruit Breeding at UHF, Nauni-Solan (Himachal Pradesh). Two cultivars of each, i.e. peach and nectarine were tongue grafted on ‘Jaspi’ clonal rootstock in the last week of January. Observations were recorded on various graft compatible (bud take success (%), stock/scion ratio), growth (plant height (m), plant spread (m), trunk girth (cm), branching density, internodal length and pruning weight (g) and foliage characters (leaf bud burst time, leaf area (cm2), stomatal density and size, chlorophyll content (mg/g fresh weight of leaves) and time of leaf fall). With respect to graft success, ‘Jaspi’ exhibited higher bud take with nectarines (95.83 %) than peaches (91.67 %) with 1.06 and 1.09 stock/scion ratio, respectively. Peach scion cultivars recorded more annual growth in terms of plant height (0.76 m) and plant spread (0.57 m x 0.67 m) than nectarines scion cultivars. Contrary to higher vigour recorded in nectarine scions compared to peach scions grafted on ‘Jaspi’, annual growth has been observed to be higher in peaches than in nectarines.