Jatropha curcas micrografting modifies plant architecture and increases tolerance to abiotic stress: grafting modifies the architecture of Jatropha curcas

Abstract

Jatropha curcas microshoots excised from well-established multiple shoot cultures of CSMCRI-1 were used as microscions. Different age microscion (6 to18-month-old shoots) and rootstock (15 to 90-day-old) were used for grafting. Among all the different combinations, 18-month-old scions and 60-day-old rootstocks developed grafts with 58.4 % success rate. The grafting efficiency was further increased by treating scion and rootstock with 0.05 mg/L BAP (6-benzylaminopurine) and 0.05 mg/L ZN (zeatin). BAP treated scion grafted on 60 days old seedlings established early union. Graft union was dressed with tissue paper wetted with 0.1 % Carbemedozo and Macrinite (CM-75) and 400 mg/L amoxicillin-clavulanic acid for infection free graft. Dressing significantly increased the rate of survival (97 %) of the grafted plants. 97 % microshoots were successfully rooted via grafting. Grafting altered the plant architecture and made them dwarf. The net photosynthetic rate of grafted plants was higher than non-grafted plants. The seed yield of grafted plants was significantly higher than cuttings and seedling.