ISHS Acta Horticulturae 575: International Symposium on Tropical and Subtropical Fruits
NURSE STOCK PLANT - A NEW TECHNIQUE TO ENHANCE MANGOSTEEN (GARCINIA MANGOSTANA) GROWTH |
| Author: | R. Poerwanto |
| Abstract:
Although mangosteen (Garcinia mangostana L.) is one of the most delicious tropical fruits, large scale planting of this crop has not occurred, due to slow growth and a long juvenile phase. Mangosteen trees require 8 - 15 years to begin flowering. The vegetative method of propagation using top-grafting can shorten the flowering age to 5 years. However, it takes 2-3 year to grow the rootstock and the growth of grafted mangosteen is poor. The slow growth rate of the mangosteen tree is due to the absence of root hairs and poor branching of the root system, thereby restricting water absorption and nutrient uptake. To improve the root system of mangosteen and enhance growth a nurse stock plant technique has been developed. Giving an additional nurse stock plant to the mangosteen seedling provides the tree with a double root system. Nurse stock plants of G. dulcis and G. fructicosa on non-grafted seedlings enhanced seedling growth as much as twice compared to seedlings without a nurse stock plant. Other experiments using mangosteen as the nurse stock plant of three types of mangosteen seedlings (non-grafted, grafted with juvenile scion, grafted with mature scion) showed that seedlings with a nurse stock plant, especially non-grafted plants and those grafted with juvenile scion, grew better than seedlings without a nurse stock plant. The growth of non-grafted seedlings was better than grafted seedlings. Seedlings grafted with mature scion showed the poorest growth. | |
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