Studies on the Vegetative Propagation of Guava by Grafting

THIS investigation was carried out during 2011 and 2012 seasons …….at the experimental farm of the Horticulture Research Institute Giza, Egypt. The aim of the present study was to investigate two factors affecting vegetative propagation of guava, date of grafting (15^th January, 15^th February and 15 ^th March) and different grafting techniques i.e. cleft grafting, saddle grafting and tongue grafting. Generally, maximum success percentage (88.15 & 100 %) was achieved by cleft grafting method in mid-Feb. in both seasons, respectively. It is quite evident from the data presented that, grafting on 15^th of January, increased fresh weight of leaves, stems and roots in both seasons, whereas, the dry weight of leaves, stems and roots surpassed the other treatments by using saddle grafting in the first season and tongue grafting in the second one, Moreover, the saddle grafting produced significantly higher number of leaves when grafted was done on 15^th January in both seasons.. On the other hand, weight of fresh root was significantly higher when saddle grafting was done in the first season, while in the second the superior values were recorded with grafting by tongue method on 15^th January. As for the  union zone, it showed the highest values on 15^th January, when the plants were grafted by saddle grafting in the first season and by cleft grafting in the second one. A significantly higher number of sprouted shoots / graft was recorded when grafting was done by saddle method on 15^th Mar. in the first season and cleft grafting on15^th Jan in the second season. Also, when the grafting was done on 15^th Jan. in the first season and 15^th Feb. in the second season, using saddle grafting method, the maximum length of sprouted shoots was produced. It is obvious from binocular examination of graft unions that all the combinations gave good graft unions without any incompatibility symptoms.  It can be concluded; that significantly better  results can be achieved if the experiment was carried out via cleft grafting during the mid-Feb.