Response of Grafting Height on Growth Success of Acid Lime (Citrus aurantifolia Swingle) Saplings

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted at Agriculture Research Institute Tarnab, Peshawar, to determine the best grafting height for the highest success of grafting and the maximum growth of Sapling during 1st January to 30th December 2017. Scions were collected from the mother plant ‘Kaghazi lime’ grown under screen house and grafted onto one-year-old trifoliate orange Sapling rootstocks by shoot-tip method at 4cm, 8cm, 12cm, 16cm and 20cm height from the collar region as the treatment. The grafts were planted inside the closed tunnel made from bamboo splits, jute and plastic sheet at 10×8cm spacing in 64×100cm experimental plots laid out in randomized complete block design (RCBD) with four replications containing 80 grafts per plot. Treatments were allotted on the experimental plots randomly. The success of grafting was not affected by the height of grafting however, growth of Sapling was found significantly affected by the height of grafting. Observation taken on Sapling after one year of grafting revealed that the maximum scion height (42.13cm), the highest number of leaves per Sapling (47.50), the highest growth of scion diameter (55.61%), maximum length of primary branches (31.19cm), maximum number of secondary branches per Sapling (3.24), the highest length of secondary branches (11.59cm), the highest canopy volume (15440cm3) and the highest graft spread (24.35cm) were found on the Sapling grafted at 16cm height of the trifoliate orange rootstock. Hence, from the study it is concluded that the most suitable height of grafting acid lime on trifoliate orange rootstock was 16cm.