Mango

Propagation

Introduction Sexual Method Asexual Method

Introduction

  • The mango, like other tropical and subtropical fruit trees is propagated by several methods, which can be grouped under two main heads, sexual and asexual methods.
  • In the sexual method, seed raises the plants.
  • Mango is cross-pollinated and heterozygous and propagation by seed leads to enormous variability in the progenies.
  • Therefore, asexual or vegetative methods are adopted to get true to type plants.
  • The technique of grafting in mango was practiced in India since ancient times.
  • Now various methods of grafting, budding, air layering and cutting etc. are being adopted with varying degree of success in different regions of India.

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Sexual Method of Propagation(Seed Propagation)

  • Almost all the mango varieties are monoembryonic except few which are polyembryonic and can give true to type seedlings from nucellar embryos.
  • However, polyembryonic varieties have not been used on large scale to raise the plants.
  • Generally mango stones are collected from local trees, market places etc. irrespective of the cultivar during the mango season.
  • The fresh collected stones are sown in raised nursery beds of 1x5 m size in July.
  • The beds are prepared in semi-shade area.
  • The stones are placed without leaving any space among them and plumule point is kept upwards so that straight tap root and stem is produced.
  • After placing the stones, the moist leaf mould is placed over them.
  • The seeds germinate within 20 days after sowing.
  • In initial stage the colour of seedling leaves remains coppery red. When the leaves colour changes from coppery red to green, then the seedlings are shifted to permanent nursery beds.
  • In nursery bed seedlings are planted in August at 45 cm apart from row to row and 25 cm from seedling to seedling.
  • Then they are irrigated immediately after planting and are nourished in nursery till February and then shifted to another nursery bed to check the root growth.
  • Regular irrigation and weeding is practiced in nursery.
  • To get faster growth & healthy seedlings ammonium sulphate or nitrate @ 110 kg/ha is applied.
  • Bolder stones give seedlings with more vigour irrespective of whether these were collected from grafted or seedling trees.
  • The viability of mango stones is lost very quickly.
  • The fresh stones collected from canning unit give high germination while stones embedded in peels or in sun for long period or dried stones are poor in germination.
  • Stones sown within one month of extraction germinate about 80 per cent and none after that.
  • By proper storage of stones, viability is preserved by keeping the stone in charcoal powder and polyethylene bags 40 per cent and 53 per cent germination was obtained when stored in polyethylene bag with charcoal and polyethylene bag alone, for 103 and 90 days respectively, if the stones are treated with r-hydroxyauinolene sulphate and stored in polyethylene bags of 100 guage at 10 C temperature, viability is preserved for one year without decline in vigour.
  • Before sowing, the stones should be washed pulp free and treated with 1 per cent organomercurial compound to check the incidence of fungus Sclerotium causing collar rot and thus reducing mortality of seedling and grafts.

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Asexual Method

Introduction

  • There is immense variation in mango seedlings, raised even from a single tree due to highly cross-pollinated nature of mango.
  • Although seedling trees produce heavy crop but fruit size and quality is inferior and does not fetch good return in market.
  • The seedling trees have long juvenile period and have more vigorous growth habit, which creates difficulty in taking plant protection measures and harvesting of their fruits.
  • The fruits of seedling trees do not mature in one stroke and thereby affect their marketing.
  • Keeping these disadvantages of seedling trees in mind and to obtain uniformity in plant performance, a monoembryonic cultivar should be propagated through asexual methods of propagation.
  • The vegetative methods of mango propagation in India are being adopted since ancient times as mentioned in Sanskrit Literature.
  • The European missionaries in Goa first introduced the technique of inarching in India.
  • The asexual methods of mango propagation can mainly be divided in three groups viz. 1. Grafting, 2. Layering and 3. Cutting.

Grafting

Inarching

1. Operated stock. 2. Operated scion.

3. Stock & scion united . 4. Stock & scion tied .

5. Inarched plant.

  • For inarching, first the seedlings are to be raised. Stones are sown in beds immediately after extracting them from the ripe fruits.
  • If extracted and kept for a longer period, stones lose their viability completely.
  • Stones when stored in the open lose viability completely after 70 days, whereas those buried under sand retain 12.5% viability after 90 days.
  • Similarly, the seeds mixed with charcoal and sealed in tins or earthen pots retain their viability only for 80 days at room temperature. But those sealed in polythene bags with charcoal retain 37.5% viability after 100 days at room temperature and 17.5% viability after 120 days at 20-230 C.
  • However, storage of mango stones at 5-80 C seems to be harmful, as there is complete loss of viability after 20 days.
  • A spacing of 22 cm from seed to seed in the row and about 45 cm from row to row is usually adopted. Beds should be kept clean of weeds.
  • After about a year, the seedlings become ready for inarching. Seedlings should be carefully watched for vegetative malformation in the nursery bed and these must be culled in the beginning, as there is as yet no method to cure this in the nursery stage.
  • Such seedlings should invariably be avoided for grafting. These seedlings can later on be transferred either to pots or taken out (with ball of earth around the roots tied with grass all round to check the evaporation of water and to keep the roots intact) for inarching operation.
  • These should be taken to the tree from which the scion part is to be selected and kept or tied up conveniently to facilitate the process of inarching.
  • Sometimes the scion parent is headed back to produce a large number of conveniently available branches for grafting at ground level.
  • The technique of raising mango seedlings for inarching followed by the nurseries in Malihabad (Lucknow) is a scientific one.
  • Seeds are sown in the nursery bed, and when the seedlings are about 12 cm the whole bed is scrapped with the help of a khurpi taking care that stones remain uninjured and only the main root is cut.
  • These seedlings are transplanted afresh, and after about a few months these are again transferred to other beds.
  • This checks the development of main root and thus ultimately facilities the lifting of the plants with smallest ball of earth without any undue injury to the roots.
  • The scion plant is about 2-3 years old. It is kept prostrate in the bed during rainy season so that a few branches arise from the exposed side of the plant.
  • The seedlings are ultimately taken out from the nursery bed and planted just near this parent scion plant.
  • The actual process of inarching consists of removal of a strip of bark, about 6.0-7.5 cm long with a small layer of wood attached to it, from the potted seedling at a height of 22 cm from soil surface.
  • A similar strip is then removed from the scion shoot selected for inarching. The scion shoot should be healthy with well-developed foliage.
  • Care is taken to ensure that the 2 exposed surfaces on the seedling and the scion shoot fit together securely, leaving no gap when the 2 treated shoots are held together by hand with the exposed parts in contact with each other.
  • In this position they are tied firmly with raffia or banana fibre. The complete operation should be done at the commencement of rains for successful raising of the plants.
  • The inarching is done in October by the nurserymen in Malihabad when the rains are over.
  • Mango leaf and ordinary sutli are used for wrapping and tying the cut portions. While raising of mango stock seedlings is very scientific, for root distribution and for the small ball of earth required while taking out the plant from the nursery the method of raising scion material is unscientific-because the scion wood is taken without the knowledge about the performance of the parent material.
  • However, it has the following disadvantages:
    1. The rootstock seedlings are brought near the mother plant, so it is more cumbersome.
    2. It is laborious and time consuming.
    3. The inarched plants are irrigated regularly and care is required for 2-3 months at the place of mother plant.
    4. Only one plant is obtained from a long scion shoot so it is uneconomical.
    5. Usually one-year-old rootstock seedlings are planted/potted which causes high percentage of mortality during inarching.

Veneer Grafting

1. Operated stock. 2. Operated scion. 3. Stock & scion united . 4. Bandaged union & girdled stock. 5. ready graft.

  • This is the best method of propagation for mango. It is easier, more economical, gives a high percentage of success and is ideal for establishing in situ orchards.
  • It is also known as detached method. In this method 1-2-year-old (50 mm diameter) rootstock is used.
  • The scion is also selected of similar thickness having 3 to 4 months age, preferably a terminal non-flowering shoot.
  • The selected scions are defoliated on the mother plant about 7 to 10 days prior to detaching, keeping a part of petiole intact on the selected terminal shoot.
  • This helps in forcing the buds to swell and icnreasing the percentage of success in grafting. This method can be adopted from March to September, preferably from July to September.
  • A slanting downward and inward cut, 2.5 to 4.0 cm long, is made on rootstock 15 cm above the crown portion of stock. At the base of cut, another shorter cut is given to intersect the first, so as to remove the piece of wood and bark.
  • The base of scion is given a long cut along one side and a very short cut on the opposite side so as to match the cuts on the stock.
  • The scion is inserted into the stock so that the cambium layers match on the longer side.
  • The graft union is tied lightly with transparent polyethylene (200 gauge thickness) strip.
  • When scion shoot starts growing and produces the vigorous sprout, the rootstock just above the graft union is cut back.
  • Then care and maintenance of graft is done in nursery. The percentage of success is about 96 per cent when done in June and July.

Side-Grafting

1. Operated stock. 2. Operated scion. 3. Stock & scion united . 4. Protection of the union. 5. ready graft.

  • It is also known as Nakamura method and popular in Japan, commonly practiced in coastal regions.
  • It is exactly similar to that of veneer grafting except that in veneer grafting the vertical flap of the root stock bark is completely removed whereas in side grafting this flap is retained and tied over scion.
  • Another difference between two methods is that only one side of the scion is sliced away in sloping manner in veneer grafting, whereas in side grafting the scion is sliced on both sides of the lower portion in the form of wedge.

Epicotyl/Stone Grafting

  • Germinating seeds about 4-8 days old are used as rootstocks.
  • The scions are prepared by prior defoliation of shoots of comparative thickness.
  • Splice and wedge methods are used for grafting. For splice grafting the epicotyl is cut slantingly for 2-3 cm length and the lower portion of scion is also cut to match it.
  • The cut surfaces of both the stock and scion are tied together with alkathene so that the cambium of each other comes in close contact.
  • In wedge grafting, a vertical cut 4-6 cm long is given into the beheaded epicotyl, to receive the wedge-shaped scion. This is then tied with alkathene film.
  • The grafts prepared by these methods are planted immediately in pots and watered. Grafting is done in rainy season when there is high humidity in the atmosphere.
  • The scion sprouts within a month of operation. The percentage of success in splice and wedge methods is 50.0 and 33.3% respectively. These techniques enable preparation of more grafts during rainy season.

Soft-Wood Grafting

  • When 1-year-old seedlings raised for rootstock commence putting on new growth and the leaves turn bronze, these are ready for soft-wood grafting.
  • Shoots of 3-4 months, which have prominent apical bud, are taken as the scion material. Leaf lamina from such shoots is removed about a week before detaching them from the parent tree.
  • At the time of removal of these shoots, the apical bud should remain intact. The top of the new growth of the stock is cut and the scion is fitted by wedge grafting.
  • The union is tied with 200 gauge polythene tape. If the selection of rootstock and scion is proper, success is 100% when the grafting is done during July-August under north Indian conditions.

This method is utilized for establishing in situ mango orchard in gravelly soils.


Cleft or Wedge Grafting

1. beheaded stock. 2. beheaded stock split. 3. side & front views of scion. 4. scions inserted & wound sealed with wax.
  • Primarily this technique is adopted for rejuvenation of old orchards by top working the trees.
  • The rootstock due to more thickness which is not fit for other grafting technique is used in this method for grafting.
  • The scion selection is similar and procured similarly. The stock is beheaded from any desired height and cut is made at right angle to the main axis of the branch.
  • A vertical split 5.0 to 7.5 cm down the centre of the cut stub is made with the help of a sharp knife.
  • The lower end of scion shoot is given two 5.0 to 7.5 cm long slanting smooth cuts on either side.
  • The scion is inserted into split of rootstock, and tied with polyethylene strip.

Selection of Grafts

  • Before actually embarking upon any plantation of mango, one should select the desirable grafts from the nursery. A good graft should be straight and established for a year in the nursery.
  • Grafts which have been in the nursery only for 1-2 months should not be purchased, as there are fair chances of their mortality.
  • The union should be clean and complete and should be at about 22 cm from the ground level.
  • The scion should be green and healthy, not showing any sign of withering. It should indicate excellent growing condition and be free diseases like galls and malformation.
  • It should not be purchased from nurseries which do not maintain the high-yielding and healthy mother plants for propagation. It will be still better to select own mother plants and prepare grafts from them.

Cuttings and Air-Layering

  • There is no commercial practice of propagating mango either through cuttings or air-layering.
  • owever, experimentally these methods have been tied with varying degree of success.
  • Experiments at the IARI have shown that juvenility could be induced in a mature mango tree by beheading and successive disbudding.
  • The cutting cuttings taken from forced shoots root and establish better than those taken from unforced shoots.
  • Rooting capacity of both forced and unforced cuttings is further increased when both the types of shoots are subjected to etiolation treatment.
  • In all these cases the application of IBA 5,000 ppm in lanolin paste is essential.
  • A mixture of peatmoss and sand (1:1) has proved the beat medium to induce rooting in the cuttings.
  • Analytical studies have revealed that apart from carbohydrate content or C:N ratio, some other unknown factors associated with the forced shoots of juvenile nature play more active part in better root initiation.
  • Anatomical studies have shown that the propagation capacity of mango cuttings is inversely proportional to the abundance of resin canals, close proximity of arch-shaped fibre bundle, suberization of endodermis and thickness of cortex consisting of selerosed cells.
  • The hardwood cuttings from mature mango trees generally fail to root outdoors.
  • Under intermittent mist, however, hardwood cuttings from ringed shoots of mature plants have been found to root successfully. They reported that ringing + IBA treatment of 'Himsagar' cultivar gave up to 80% rooting in 2-year-old woodcuttings of a 35-years-old tree.
  • Etiolation in combination with 10,000 ppm IBA and 5,000 ppm NAA induced 100% rooting in mango air-layers. Their corresponding survival, noticed up to 1 year, was 95 and 90% respectively.
  • The rooting was 41.66% in the mango cuttings kept in normal daylight and 50% in those held in continuous darkness.
  • When the cuttings were etiolated for 5 days and then transferred to normal light conditions, rooting was 33.33%.
  • However, etiolation followed by normal light + red light for 30 min at 12 hr intervals resulted in 91.66% rooting as was also observed with etiolation and red light without any normal light in between.
  • When the cuttings kept in darkness were exposed to far red light for 30 min at 12 hr intervals, rooting was again 41.65%. However, rooted cuttings could not be established into plants in the field.
  • The pre-treatment of the rootstock with cycocel and ethrel induced rooting on cuttings and air-layers of mango (a difficult-to-root plant).
  • Application of IBA to the cuttings and air-layers from pre-treated shoots improved the rooting, though pre-treatment with chlormequat was more effective than that with ethrel. Morphactin pre-treatment inhibited rooting.
  • Air-layering with the application of 5,000 to 10,000 ppm IBA proved successful. Shoots of less than 2 years give higher percentage of rooting than the older ones.
  • Shoots are first ringed about 3 cm in width just below a leaf bud. On the upper portion of the ring, IBA in lanolin paste is applied and the girdled portion is covered with moist sphagnum moss, as it can retain moisture for a sufficiently long time.
  • The complete portion is wrapped in a piece of polythene film ensuring that the film is firmly bound and fastened on top and bottom to make it air-tight, so that there is no loss of moisture from the moss through evaporation.
  • The polythene wrap allows exchange of the respiratory gases without any loss of moisture. If there is no other cover over the polythene wrap, roots can easily be seen without removing the wrapping. Generally rooting is initiated within 2 months of the operation.
  • The air-layered shoot is then detached from the mother plant by giving 3 cuts near the base at intervals of 10 days.
  • Rainy season is the optimum period for layering in mango.
  • Although the root initiation in such air-layers is fairly good, the establishment of such air-layered shoots is poor.
  • This is due to initiation of thicker roots, which do not possess optimum absorbing power and consequently when the rooted shoots are transferred to pots the mortality is appreciable.
  • As a precautionary measure, the potted plants are kept in the shade and regularly watered.
  • Besides, about 20% of the leaves are pinched off to minimize transpiration. However, an advanced technique is required to ensure initiation of thinner roots in the air-layered shoots.
  • The air-layers of mango show appreciable varietal difference in their rooting capacity. They found that while in 'Langra' the rooting was only 35% and survival of the rooted layers only 40%, in 'Gulabkhas' these were 70% each. The varieties 'Bombai' and 'Himsagar' exhibited intermediate rooting.
  • They also observed that in the air-layers ringed and treated with IBA, there was significant accumulation of carbohydrates, enhanced protein synthesis and greater accumulation of rooting co-factors.
  • The shoots of less than 2 years, on old trees up to the age of 30 years, gave higher percentage of rooting than on the trees of more than 30 years.
  • Of the 7 different combinations of rooting media and wrapping materials tried, sphagnum moss plus vermiculite wrapped with polythene and then with gunny sack was found to be the best. Establishment of the layers was better in sand-garden soil-leaf mould mixture than in sand-and-garden soil alone.

Budding

  • This is the most economical method but uniform good success has not been obtained in different types of agroclimatic regions.
  • The budding technique is highly suitable to those areas where general atmospheric humidity remains high. the most commonly employed methods are patch, shield and forkert budding.
  • The rootstock seedlings are raised in similar fashion as done in case of grafting. The best-suited time of budding in North India is February to June while in South India august to September.
  • The bud wood/scion should be of last season growth and shoot should be round in shape having Grey colour.
  • The middle bud is considered best for good success.

Shield Budding

  • This is one of the commonest methods used for propagation of mango in Florida, Hawaii and Philippines.
  • The term shield bud is derived from the shield like shape of the bud, before its insertion in the stock.
  • Seedlings which have attained about one year age and pencil thickness in diameter are given a transverse cut about 15 to 20 cm above the ground level.
  • The cut is kept just deep enough to cut the bark and about one-third distance around the stock. A perpendicular cut starting from the middle of transverse cut and about 2.5 to 4.0 cm long is made.
  • Then bark is loosened on either side of the cut, without tearing the bark.
  • To remove the shield of bud, a cut and about 2 cm. A horizontal cut at the required portion separates the bud shield which carries a thick piece of wood.
  • Now shield piece containing a bud is inserted in stock plant. The bud is inserted in between the two flaps of bark without tearing the bark.
  • Then the bud union is wrapped lightly with polyethylene strip.
  • During tying the bud portion remains open. If the budding is successful, the bud piece unites with rootstock in two to three weeks time.
  • The union is completed after about 30 days. The stock is cut back about 2.5 cm above the union.
  • After a season's growth in nursery, plants are shifted to some other place before planting to their permanent location.

Forkert Budding

  • In this method a transverse cut of 8 mm width is given on root stock at 25 cm above the ground level and two vertical cuts of about 2.5 to 4.0 cm on both sides of transverse cuts.
  • The bark is removed carefully along these cuts. The bud is prepared in similar manner as in case of shield bud.
  • The size remains equal to the cut on the stock. The bud is placed into the exposed portion of stock and the bud is covered by the flap, then budded portion is wrapped with polyethylene strip.
  • After a month when union takes place, the wrapping material is removed and the flap is cut off. When the bud shows symptoms of growth, the rootstock portion is given half cut above the union leaving some leaves attached to the stock such operation stimulates the growth of bud.
  • After attaining new growth from bud, the remaining portion of rootstock is cut from 2.5 cm above the bud union.
  • Now plant is allowed to remain in nursery for one season before shifting to permanent location.

Patch Budding

  • This method of mango propagation is common in Florida. A rectangular patch of bark of 2.5 cm long and 1.0 to 1.5 cm wide is removed from rootstock from 15-20 cm above the soil surface.
  • A bud shield of similar size or slightly smaller is taken from the scion shoot and placed over the exposed portion of rootstock.
  • Then tying is done with polyethylene strip. To get success in patch budding, it is essential that stock as well as scion should slip easily.

Rootstocks and Parental trees

  • Rootstock may either be grown from seed as a seedling rootstock or may be vegetatively propagated as a clonal rootstock.
  • Some rootstocks though produced from seeds are in effect clonal because the seedlings are of nucellar origin from polyembryonic seeds.
  • However, the seedling rootstocks are mostly from monoembryonic seeds and hence are quite variable. Therefore any propagation technique that may aid in easy multiplication of clonal rootstocks will advance the standardized rootstock programme in the mango plant.
  • Rootstocks affect many facts of plant growth and tree performance. Besides, these are helpful in growing plants under adverse soil and climatic conditions.
  • Disease and pest resistance obtained through specific rootstocks may be of special importance under certain situations. Recently, however, rootstocks have especially been, recommended for inducing dwarfness in fruit trees, in apple.
  • Such dwarfing rootstocks produce the dwarfing effect even when interposed as interstock between a non-dwarfing rootstock and a scion variety.
  • Interstocks have also been used to act as a bridge between a desirable rootstock and a scion by being compatible with both. The manner of inducing dwarfing effect by a dwarfing rootstock is not fully understood.
  • However, it may be due to restriction of upward translocation of inorganic nutrients through the rootstock, shallow root system of the rootstock, restriction of downward phloem transport or other physiological disturbance caused by graft incompatibility.
  • In mango, however, the work for selecting different types of rootstocks has just been initiated. In a study on chlorophylls, dry matter and leaf area in relation to vigour of different mango rootstocks, 'Goa' variety to be very vigorous, followed by 'Bappakai', 'Chausa', 'Kurukkan' and 'Villaicolamban', whereas 'Taimuria', 'Moovandan' and 'Kalapady' appeared dwarf on the basis of different chlorophyll fractions and dry-matter content.
  • The trees of 'Villaicolamban' were the smallest both in height and area covered and those on ' dashehari' seedlings the largest. The latter gave the highest yield, followed by 'Ambalavi' and 'Mylepalium'.
  • The scion variety used was 'Dashehari'. In a study on the performance of mango on polyembryonic and monoembryonic rootstocks, the trees of 'Neelum' (12 years old) on 'Olour' were smallest and those on 'Bappakai' largest.
  • The cumulative yields were more with the trees on 'Bappakai' followed by those on 'Olour'. Differences in fruit quality were slight.
  • Polyembryonic varieties also offer great possibility of being tried as rootstocks for different commercial varieties of mango.
  • However, the exact criterion for distinguishing a nucellar seedling from a gametic seedling in polyembryonic varieties is not yet well established.
  • In polyembryonic seed-stone the zygote usually gets degenerated and the seedlings emerge from nucellar embryos alone. Uniformity in the colour of emerging leaves of the seedlings may, however, provide futher proof to this finding.
  • The parent trees which provide scion material are equally as important as the rootstocks.
  • The scion wood should be taken only from the mother trees whose performance has already been assessed over a number of years.
  • This will ensure raising of true-to-type plant. Sometimes one may come across mutated branch on the same tree, varying considerably in sex ratio and the final fruit set than the rest of the tree.
  • Such branches should invariably be avoided while taking scion material for raising plants from the mother tree.

Technique of Stool-Layering in Mango

  • Freshly germinated mango seedlings are headed back near the ground in July.
  • It induces sprouting of 3-5 side-shoots from the main shoot. Subsequent application of 5,000 ppm indole butyric acid in lanolin to the surface, after removing a ring of bark of 2 cm from these side-shoots just near the ground, induces profuse rooting when the soil is formed into a mound around them.
  • The time taken from ringing to potting of the rooted side-shoots is only 1 month.
  • The fibrous root system, unlike the thick and non-rooting behavior of the young side-shoots is possibly due to their juvenile phase.
  • This method of stool-layering can be directly used by keeping the plant in juvenile phase by repeated pruning.
  • The rooted side-shoots may be headed back again and multiplied further in the same manner.
  • Thus from one seedling it is possible to obtain in a few years a large number of uniform clones for rootstock experiments.
  • Further research on stooling has shown that the same clone can give 3-8 rooted shoots per year for 7 years and more.
  • Stooling potentiality is the highest in seedlings, followed by veneer grafts and air-layers.
  • Similar trend has been observed in the production of primary and secondary roots and the establishment of the stooled plants.
  • However, a successful stooling of veneer grafts prepared from a desired rootstock plant can help quick multiplication of rootstocks.

Veneer Grafting in Sity

  • The saplings raised from 5 different methods (inarching, budding, air layering, veneer grafting and stooling) when grown in the nursery for 20 months differ in their growth capacity.
  • These workers reported that among the plants propagated by various methods, those grown by veneer graft in situ exhibited the highest the highest growth.
  • Establishment of a grafted mango orchard of uniform trees is somewhat difficult when done by inarched plants. There is sizeable mortality once the inarched plants are put in the field.
  • This involves a lot of periodical replacement, resulting in a heterogeneous group of trees. Besides had appearance of the orchard, these different trees take different time to produce an economic yield. Veneer grafting in situ is the right answer for this problem.
  • Freshly extracted mango seed-stones are placed at appropriate distance in the field, and thus the seedlings are raised in situ.
  • These vigorous seedlings when 2-year old are veneer grafted with scion sticks of the variety one desires to plant.
  • Such plants grow very fast and attain a stature in a few years, which the inarched plants would have taken many more years to attain. Thus the advantages of this technique are
    1. early economic yield,
    2. better growth,
    3. no mortality,
    4. less expenses, and
    5. an orchard of uniform trees.

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Andhra Pradesh