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Abstract
Grafting breadfruit (Artocarpus altilis) on chataigne (Artocarpus camansi) rootstock can potentially benefit commercial establishment of breadfruit, but a suitable protocol needs to be developed. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of the grafting technique (whip and tongue, spliced side and top wedge), rootstock age (6, 9 and 18 week old), scion cultivar (two breadfruit cultivars from Trinidad- ‘Yellow’ and ‘White’, a Jamaican accession- ‘JA1’, and chataigne as the control) and season on grafting success. There were significant (p < 0.05) differences in length of survival neither among grafting technique nor rootstocks of different ages. Among scion cultivar, ‘White’ and chataigne scions generally survived longer (p < 0.05) than those of other cultivars. Grafting done in the wet season had significantly (p < 0.05) higher survival rate compared to those done in the dry season. Although not directly evaluated, scion quality and post-grafting environment were two factors that emerged as important to grafting these two species. The data suggest that season of grafting, scion quality and post-grafting environment were important determinants of grafting success. Scion harvested from juvenile mother plants during the wet season, matched with rootstock of similar diameter and grafted plants maintained in an environment which minimize water loss for both scion and rootstock for at least 4 weeks after grafting were essential for successful grafting of these selected breadfruit cultivars. When all these requirements were met, survival percentages of 97%, 83%, 80% and 80% for ‘White’, ‘JA1’, ‘Yellow’ and chataigne, respectively, were achieved.