Growth, yield, fruit quality and leaf nutrient status of thirteen year old 'Alphonso' mango trees on eight rootstocks.
Kurian R. M., Reddy V. V. P., Reddy Y. T. N.
Author Affiliation: Division of Fruit Crops, Indian Institute of Horticultural Research, Hessaraghatta Lake, Bangalore 560 089, India.
Journal of Horticultural Science 71 : 181-186
Abstract : Nucellar seedlings of mango cv. Vellaikolamban were dwarfing when used as a rootstock for cv. Alphonso scions, while those of cultivars Muvandan, Bappakai and Olour behaved as vigorous rootstocks, in decreasing order. There was more flowering and less vegetative flushing when Alphonso was grown on this dwarfing rootstock. An inverse relationship between the phenolic content of stem apical buds of the scion and tree size was observed. Differences in leaf nutrient status of Alphonso on the various rootstocks were significant for N, K, Fe, Ca, Mn and Cu, but not for P, Mg and Zn. Vigorous rootstocks led to higher leaf N concentrations and the least vigorous rootstock resulted in the lowest values of N, K and Fe. The highest concentrations of the last 2 nutrients were also recorded on the vigorous rootstock cultivars Olour and Muvandan. Although fruit yield per tree was high on the vigorous rootstocks and low on Vellaikolamban, productivity, expressed as fruit yield per unit space occupied by canopy, was higher on the latter, indicating the potential of Vellaikolamban as a dwarfing rootstock for high-density orchards. In areas where land availability is not limiting, nucellar seedlings of Olour may be better rootstocks when planting Alphonso at wider spacings. Zygotic seedlings of Alphonso, as well as nucellar seedlings of Chandrakaran, Mylepelian and Kurukkan seemed not to hold promise as rootstocks for Alphonso. Fruit quality was not affected by any of the rootstocks tested.