Clonal Forestry

Madhuca latifolia

Conventional method of propagation using seeds is invaluable because of pest and disease problem and also due to short viability. Hence, Madhuca is propagated successfully using cleft grafting method. Seeds are collected from a selected plus tree and root stocks are established in polybags containing standard nursery mixture of soil:sand:FYM (1:1:1). The rootstocks of 8-12 months age with pencil thickness stem size are used. The scions (15 cm length and pencil thickness diameter) are collected from the leading shoots of the tree and brought back to green house using a water holding compound (commercially known as Jalshakthi). The top portion of the root stock is cut and  a wedge is made on the stock using a knife. The leaves in the scion are trimmed and the basal portion of the scion is sized to “V” shape and is injected into the wedge made on the root stock. Then, the inserted portion is tied with a polythene film likely to avoid the entry of air and kept inside the mistless polytunnel system. At 45 to 50 days after grafting, the grafted plant is tested for union and a success rate of 70% is achieved during August to February.
 

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