Recent advances in vegetative propagation techniques of Theobroma cacao L. under Malaysian conditions
Throughout the world, the cocoa plant had been vegetatively propagated mainly by means of rooted cuttings, bud-grafting and, to a limited extent, by marcots and grafts. Rooted cuttings and buddings were associated with major drawbacks. The production of rooted cuttings involved investment in basic f...
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| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Proceedings Paper |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Incorporated Society of Planters
2015
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://agris.upm.edu.my:8080/dspace/handle/0/8970 |
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| Summary: | Throughout the world, the cocoa plant had been vegetatively propagated mainly by means of rooted cuttings, bud-grafting and, to a limited extent, by marcots and grafts. Rooted cuttings and buddings were associated with major drawbacks. The production of rooted cuttings involved investment in basic facilities and considerable operational skill; also, there was a clonal variation in rooting success. On the other hand, the traditional or conventional bud-grafting technique entailed a lengthy nursery period with the practice of raising relatively old rootstocks (at least five or six months old) and an undesirably long post-budding period. Marcots did not have widespread application due mainly to poor success whilst grafts had not merited more attention consequent upon the availability of relatively effective techniques for production of rooted cutting and budding. There was hence a need to screen other available and new-developed techniques. This paper discussed the practical applicability of promising techniques; cleft-grafting, lateral grafting, nurse-seed grafting and chip-budding. The techniques were considered in relation to rooted cuttings and conventional buddings, with specific reference to production efficiency and costing. Investigations demonstrated that chip-budding was the simplest and cheapest technique which afford an effective means of green budding and also possesses significant potential for reduction of rootstocks age. Consequently, it could have a ready application in the exploitation of clonal cocoa in Malaysia. Nurse-seed grafting, involving the use of root-stocks which were only five to nine days old, also had tremendous potential for practical application |
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