Effect of Cleopatra mandarin rootstock age on bud ‘take’ of Late Valencia sweet orange

Abstract

Cleopatra mandarin is preferred to rough lemon as rootstock material for budding because of the susceptibility of the latter to major citrus diseases such as gummosis and phytophtora infections. However, Cleopatra mandarin rootstocks have poor bud ‘take’. The experiment was conducted at CSIR-Plant Genetic Resources Research Institute, Bunso to determine the effect of Cleopatra mandarin rootstock age on bud ‘take’ of Late Valencia sweet orange variety. Cleopatra mandarin rootstocks of ages 9 months, 10 months, 11 months and 12 months were budded with Late Valencia sweet orange variety using the chip budding technique in a randomised complete block design. There were 25 budded seedlings for each age group and replicated four times. Results obtained indicated that younger Cleopatra mandarin rootstock favoured bud ‘take’more than older ones. Higher bud ‘take’ was recorded in the 9-month old rootstocks followed by the 10-month old ones. Bud ‘take’, however, decreased with age of the rootstock. Differences in bud ‘take’between younger rootstocks (9 and 10 months old) were insignificant. There were, however, significant differences between bud‘take’ of younger rootstocks and older rootstocks (11 and 12 months old).