Abstract
Thegrafting of ornamental plants is a relatively new practice in Albania aimed at improving both yields and the environment. Although much information is available on the seedling production of Cupressus spp., whereas few grafting cases have been recorded .This note reports the first grafting of the Arizona cypress ( the scion), which is not well known in Albania, on a local ecotype of Mediterranean cypress (the rootstock). The experiment was carried out in a plastic greenhouse in the Laknas area in February 2016by approach graftage. Five hundred grafted baby plants were grown in controlled conditions (T=22℃ e UR 90%). RGR-rootstock (33 mg g -1 d -1 ) was higher than RGR-scion (18 mg g -1 d -1 ). This can be explained by the fact that after grafting, the root system of the plant experiences a slowdown in growth rate because of the crunch of grafting. It is thought to be caused by both components from different species with genetic variation with each other. This great difference, when all growing conditions are the same, can also be explained by the quality of grafting for each plant. At the end of our study, the percentage of grafting compatibility was 87% in Category A (perfect union).
Highlights
The use of vegetative propagation is a key factor in both ornamental and forest tree improvement [1].Grafting is an ancient, vegetative, asexual plant propagation technique
Relative rate of growth (RGR), which reflects the ability of the plant to produce new dry matter in a specific period of time, was calculated as follows: RGR = dW/W * 1/dt ; in mg g -1 day-1 W = dry weight of sample dt= d2 - d1 is the interval of time between samples of measure
The relative growth rates (RGR; mg g-1d-1), as a change in biomass per unit, of initial biomass per unit time, was calculated for the growth period, DAG 210. As it is clearly seen in the graphs below (Figure 5.0), the RGR-rootstock (33 mg g-1d-1) was higher than RGR- scion (18 mg g-1d-1)
Summary
The use of vegetative propagation is a key factor in both ornamental and forest tree improvement [1]. Horizontalis(Mill.)Gord.is typical along the Vlora-Saranda coastline in the south, on the open sea gulf of the Ionian Sea [7] It is spontaneous in the Kruja area (in north central Albania) as well as in the Shkodra region (Balkans region) where it was introduced and grows mainly in the skeletal lands of Shiroka and along the Shkoder-Hani i Hotit road [8]. Arizona cypress (C. arizonica Green), referred to as C. glabra by some botanists, has shown promising characteristics for afforestation in both arid and semi-arid areas [11, 12] It is a medium-sized evergreen tree with a conic to ovoid-conic crown [13] growing in the mountains of Arizona to Mexico between the altitudes of 1300-2500m asl and tolerates temperatures from -15°C to 40°C. This note reports the first grafting of the Arizona cypress, which is little known in Albania, onto an Albanian ecotype of the Mediterranean cypress (C. sempervirens L. var. horizontalis (Mill.) Gord.)
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