Articles
First outcomes of grafting highbush blueberry in Romania
Article number
1357_53
Pages
377 – 383
Language
English
Abstract
Growing blueberries is of great importance nowadays due to the high content of antioxidants in the fruits and for a healthy diet.
Most of the blueberry planting material delivered by nurseries are own-rooted plants and is originated from cuttings or in vitro propagation.
Grafting the blueberry plants was never considered a reliable alternative.
Nevertheless, conducting blueberry plants with a single trunk and choosing a robust rootstock for the cultivars brings several benefits of interest for growers, including the easiness of harvest.
Twelve grafting combinations and two grafting methods were tested in potted highbush blueberry plants. Blueray and Coville northern highbush cultivars were used as rootstock and scion as well among the other four cultivars like Denise blue, Bluecrop, Pink lemonade and Duke. Chip budding method proved to be unsuitable for grafting blueberries independent of cultivar combinations, but whip and tongue grafting registered 96% success rate.
Grafted plants were compared in terms of total annual growth, number of ramifications, number of floral buds per scion and thickness differences in the grafting area.
In the second year after over-grafting, the Denise blue/Coville combination achieved the longest growth of 503 cm and the Pink lemonade/Coville showed a good differentiation with 99 fruit buds plant‑1. The differences in thickening between the graft and the nearby areas showed very small differences in average values between cultivars and rootstocks. in thickness increased, total growth tended to increase.
The opposite trend seemed to occur for Blueray. In this endeavour, further research is needed to find suitable blueberry rootstocks in Europe.
Most of the blueberry planting material delivered by nurseries are own-rooted plants and is originated from cuttings or in vitro propagation.
Grafting the blueberry plants was never considered a reliable alternative.
Nevertheless, conducting blueberry plants with a single trunk and choosing a robust rootstock for the cultivars brings several benefits of interest for growers, including the easiness of harvest.
Twelve grafting combinations and two grafting methods were tested in potted highbush blueberry plants. Blueray and Coville northern highbush cultivars were used as rootstock and scion as well among the other four cultivars like Denise blue, Bluecrop, Pink lemonade and Duke. Chip budding method proved to be unsuitable for grafting blueberries independent of cultivar combinations, but whip and tongue grafting registered 96% success rate.
Grafted plants were compared in terms of total annual growth, number of ramifications, number of floral buds per scion and thickness differences in the grafting area.
In the second year after over-grafting, the Denise blue/Coville combination achieved the longest growth of 503 cm and the Pink lemonade/Coville showed a good differentiation with 99 fruit buds plant‑1. The differences in thickening between the graft and the nearby areas showed very small differences in average values between cultivars and rootstocks. in thickness increased, total growth tended to increase.
The opposite trend seemed to occur for Blueray. In this endeavour, further research is needed to find suitable blueberry rootstocks in Europe.
Publication
Authors
A. Asănică, D. Hoza, A. Iacob, D. Popescu, C. Asănică
Keywords
Vaccinium corymbosum L., pots, whip and tongue, chip budding, compatibility
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