The Growth of Seedlings Generated from Cleft Grafting of Several Superior Tea Clones

Abstract

Efforts to poduce superior tea varieties require a long time, therefore a more practical method is needed, through cleft grafting. Planting material to be used should have superior qualities such as high yield, drought tolerance, resistant to pest and disease, and good inner quality. The research aimed to investigate the growth of grafted seedlings of several superior tea clones. The experiment was conducted at IRITC Gambung Experimental Garden with an altituted 1,250–1,450 m asl, from March 2016 until June 2017. Randomized complete block design with 9 treatments and 3 replications was used in this study. The 9 treatments were a combinations of scion and rootstock from several superior tea clones (GMB 3, GMB 7, GMB 9, TRI 2025, PS 1, and Gedeh 1) by grafting technique. Variables observed were plant height, number of leaves, number, and length of roots. The data were analyzed by anova and followed by duncan multiple range test (DMRT) at 5% level. The results showed that the grafting combinations of TRI 2025/GMB 3, TRI 2025/GMB 7, TRI 2025/GMB 9, PS 1/GMB 3, PS 1/GMB 7, and Gedeh 1/GMB 3 showed good compatibility and growth compared to PS 1/GMB 9, Gedeh 1/GMB 7, and Gedeh 1/GMB 9. Therefore, those six combinations can be used for tea propagation through grafting technique.