Vol. 11, Issue 9 (2022)

Author(s):
Shiwangi Srivastava, Dr. Annu Verma, Dr. Neeraj Shukla, GL Sharma and Dr. SS Porte

Abstract:
A study was carried out to determine the graft compatibility of bottle gourd scion (Haruna and Gaurav) with five different cucurbitaceous rootstock viz., watermelon, pumpkin OP, Pumpkin F1, Bottle gourd and Muskmelon. The grafting method adopted in this study was slant grafting. Graft compatibility was determined by evaluating the number of days taken to attain graftable size, days taken for graft union, percent of grafting success, graft healing and survival rate of grafted plants after regeneration of vascular bundles over the graft interface and vegetative growth of the scion. There was a significant difference in graft success among different graft combination. Among the rootstocks, pumpkin (Cucurbita moschata) and bottle gourd (Lagenaria siceraria) recorded significantly less number of days to attain graftable size (17.0) and (17.4) respectively. The rootstock bottle gourd (Lagenaria siceraria) took the least number of days (6.6) for graft union with Haruna whereas pumpkin OP (Cucurbita moschata) grafted onto Gaurav recorded the highest number of days (8.6). Graft success on 30^th days after grafting revealed that the rootstocks bottle gourd (Lagenaria siceraria) recorded highest grafting success (85.5) with Haruna followed by water melon (Citrullus lanatus), lowest number of days (4.5) was required for graft hardening in Haruna grafted on bottle gourd (Lagenaria siceraria) and the maximum survival (86.5) was recorded in the combination of HT1 i.e Haruna grafted onto watermelon. This suggest that bottle gourd (Lagenaria siceraria) and watermelon (Citrullus lanatus) rootstock could be the compatible rootstock for grafting with bottle gourd scion.