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.
