Diseases and Management of Crops under Protected Cultivation

(Diseases and Management of Crops under Protected Cultivation)
South India : Neelum, Banglora, Mulgoa, Suvaranarekha, Banganpalli, Rumani, Raspuri, Badami
East India : Malda, Fazli, Himsagar, Kishenbhog, Gulabkhas, Jardalu
West India : Alphonso, Pairi, Malkurad, Kesar, Rajapuri, Jamadar
Improved varieties: Amrapali, Mallika, Ambika, Arka Anmol, Arka Aruna, Arka Neelkiran, Arka
Puneet, Alfazli, AU Rumani, Ratna, Sindhu
Raising of rootstocks
Mango seedlings grown from stones of seedling trees are used as rootstocks. Stones
should be collected from vigorous, disease free and high yielding trees of seedling mangoes
during July-August. Mango seeds are recalcitrant and lose viability very soon on desiccation. If the
mango stones are not sown within a few days of their removal from the fruit, they can be stored
under moist condition in shade, covering with moist soil, sand or sawdust, etc. Before sowing
stones should be immersed in water and floating stones should be discarded as they are not
considered viable Stones are sown during in June to August, depending upon the ripening season
of the mango, in beds mixed with well decomposed farm yard manure at the rate of 8-10 tones per
hectare. When the seedlings attain the age of 2-3 months, they should be transplanted in well
prepared beds or poly bags. After transplanting, proper care should be exercised in irrigating the
young transplanted seedlings. Attack of leaf cutting insects is common during rainy season, which
may affect the growth of the seedlings adversely.
Methods of propagation: Nurserymen in many of the mango growing areas still use inarching,
traditional method of propagation. During past few decades, experimental results have shown that
veneer grafting technique can be used with high success rate in Madhya Pradesh, Andhra
Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. Stone (epicotyl) grafting is suitable for konkan region of
Maharashtra and Coastal regions. Now-a-days softwood grafting is being used commercially for
mango propagation in several parts of south India. Veneer grafting and soft wood grafting
techniques can be used for large scale multiplication of mango in north India. With the use of
polyhouse and net house structures, period of propagation can be extended easily under north
Indian conditions.
Softwood grafting
The technique of softwood grafting is similar to that of cleft or wedge grafting. In this case,
grafting is done on 3 month to 8 month old rootstocks. In south India, the rootstocks attain
graftable thickness within 3-6 months due mild winter. In the past, this technique has been in use
in situ orchard establishment under adverse soil and climatic conditions as the grafting operation is
performed using cleft/wedge method on the newly grown top portion of the plant one year after the
rootstock establishment in the field. The scion shoots of the thickness equal to that of rootstocks
are defoliated 7-10 days prior to grafting. The graft should be secured firmly using 1.5 cm wide,
200-gauge polyethylene strip. July and August months with high humidity and moderate
temperature are the best for the success of softwood grafting.
- 220 -