Evaluation of Promising Vegetative Propagation Techniques for ‘Ber’ (Ziziphus jujuba)

Abstract

Ber is an underutilized fruit crop in Sri Lanka. Standard propagation technique for the production ol quality planting materials of ber is still lacking. Grafting and bidding are the most popular methods of vegetative propagation. This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of grafting and budding of Ber at the Fruit Crops Research and Development Station at Gannoruwa. Seedlings of local species of Ber (Ziziphus mauritiana) were used as rootstocks. The scions were collected from high quality exotic species of Ber (Ziziphus jujuba) cultivated under local conditions. The propagation methods of T budding, Patch budding and Wedge grafting using hard wood and semi hardwood scions were practiced. Experimental design was Completely Randomized Design with four replicates. Percentage success of bud take-on, time taken for bud take-on (days), total number of shoots and leaves and mean shoot length per successful graft were collected. Wedge grafting using semi-hardwood scion showed the highest success percentage (72.5%) of bud take-on within 17 days. Wedge grafting using hardwood scion showed the second highest success (32.5%) in 18 days for bud take-on. Budding methods took longer time period (31- 32 days) for bud take-on with lower success range of 5- 10%. This study indicates that the wedge grafting method using semi-hardwood scion is superior to the other methods for vegetative propagation of Ber.