Improvement of grafting success of mango through application of plant growth regulators

The mango is generally propagated by grafting and grafting success depends on several factors. Physiological condition of scion and rootstock plays a vital role in grafting union where external application of plant growth regulators may be helpful to gear up better cambium activity for making grafting joint. Considering beneficial role of plant growth regulators, an investigation was carried out in a nursery of private farm during the year 2015 with different concentrations of NAA (10 ppm and 20 ppm) and GA 3 (5 ppm and 10 ppm) were applied through spray applications at different time intervals (1 day after grafting followed by 21 days after grafting and 7 days after grafting followed by 21 days after grafting) on grafts using scion of mango variety Mallika. The experiment was laid out in factorial Randomized Block Design (RBD) with five replications. The result showed that GA 3 @10 ppm resulted in highest grafting success (56.05%) with better growth of sprouted shoots. However, leaf number of sprouted shoots was comparatively lower in GA 3 treatment irrespective of doses. In case of all traits under study time of growth regulator application was significantly important irrespective of growth regulators and application of growth regulators at 1 day after grafting followed by the second spray at 21 days after grafting gave the better result. Therefore, GA 3 @10 ppm applied at 1 day and 21 days after grafting is recommended to improve grafting success in Mallika cultivar of mango.