Grafting Success of Berberis Integerrima Cv Bidaneh on Wild Type Barberries

Abstract

ABSTRACT The seedless barberry, ‘Bidaneh,’ is one of the most important cultivated small fruits in Iran. This cultivar is propagated only by suckers, and so, the establishment of large-scale orchards is not possible in a short period of time. During this research, different grafting methods were evaluated on the grafting success rate of ‘Bidaneh’ on wild types of barberry. More than 1000 grafts including cleft grafting (with hard shoots and green/semi-hard shoots), omega grafting, T-budding, and chip budding (at mid-spring and late summer) methods were performed for two consecutive years (2018 and 2019). The results showed that the grafting methods have significant effects on the percentage of callus formation and graft success (P < .01). The chip budding method resulted in the maximum callus formation (36.7%), and graft success (30%). The rate of callus formation and graft success in the cleft grafting with semi-hard shoots was 2% and 18%, respectively. No callus formation and graft success were found in the cleft in hard stem and omega grafting methods. The graft success was zero in T-budding, despite of 18.33% callus formation. The results revealed the success of grafting of ‘Bidaneh’ on wild barberry species for the first time. However, increasing the graft success rate requires further research.