Effect of season on softwood grafting in jamun (Syzygium cumini, Skeels.)

An experiment was conducted to know the effect of season on softwood grafting in jamun at the K.R.C. College of Horticulture, UHS, Bagalkot. The grafting was done at monthly interval starting from January to December 2008 on six-months-old rootstock. The experiment was conducted with three replications under CRD design. Observations on grafting success, graft survival percentage, graft height, graft girth, number of leaves and number of sprouts on grafts were recorded at monthly interval. The scions were collected from a healthy, high yielding tree. The study revealed that maximum grafting success was recorded during February (81.66%), which is on par with October (80.00%). The minimum grafting success was recorded during December (35.00%). The maximum graft survival was recorded during February (95.97%) followed by October (95.83%), September (93.97%) and June (93.02%) which are on par with each other. The lowest survival percentage was recorded during December (61.90%). Regarding the growth parameters, the number of leaves was maximum in February (9.33) which was on par with March and September (9.00) and July (7.33), while the minimum number of leaves was recorded in December (3.00). In case of number of sprouts, again February (2.33) had the highest value, while the minimum was recorded in December (0.66). When graft height was considered October recorded the highest graft height (20.66 cm), which was on par with February (18.66 cm) and August (17.66 cm). On the other hand, December recorded the lowest height (12 cm). The graft girth was maximum in September (8.24 mm) which was significantly different from all other months while minimum graft girth was recorded in January (4.08 mm). With this study it is concluded that February and October were the most favourable months for softwood grafting in Jamun.