Study on different grafting methods of kiwifruit ‘Hayward’ on the ‘Matua’ and ‘Bruno’ rootstocks

Abstract

Introduction. Grafting onto kiwifruit seedlings is a common method for propagation. Grafting success rate depends on both the rootstock and grafting type. Materials and methods. The present study examines the effect of three grafting types on two locally prevailing rootstocks of the kiwifruit ‘Hayward’ in a factorial experiment based on a randomized complete block design with two factors. The first factor was the graft type at three levels (cleft, tongue and side grafting) and the second factor was rootstock at two levels (‘Matua’ and ‘Bruno’) with three replications. The measured traits included graft union percentage, scion growth, leaf area index, specific leaf area, leaf weight ratio, graft union height, number of suckers and allometric coefficient. Results and discussion. It was found that the highest graft union percentage (100%) was obtained under treatment cleft grafting × ‘Bruno’ rootstock and tongue grafting × ‘Matua’ rootstock, whereas the lowest graft union (66.7%) was observed in ‘Matua’ rootstock grafted by cleft method. Scion growth in tongue graft combination was better than other treatments. The treatment of side grafting × ‘Bruno’ rootstock had the highest scion growth and the treatment of cleft grafting × ‘Matua’ rootstock had the lowest growth. The highest number of suckers was observed under tongue grafting × ‘Bruno’ rootstock and the lowest number was obtained in the treatment of cleft grafting × ‘Matua’ rootstock. Conclusion. Cleft grafting for ‘Bruno’ rootstock and tongue grafting for ‘Matua’ rootstock with 100% success were the best and acceptable treatments.