Performance of avocado (Persea americana Mill.) and mango (Mangifera indica L.) seedlings compared with their grafted trees.
Lahav E., Tomer E., Gazit S., Lavi U.
Author Affiliation: Department of Fruit Trees, Agricultural Research Organization, Volcani Center, PO Box 6, Bet Dagan 50250, Israel.
Journal of the American Society for Horticultural Science 120 : 265-269
Abstract : Most fruit tree breeding projects are based on selection of seedlings in regard to their performance. The selected seedlings are vegetatively propagated, usually by grafting. It is highly important for the breeder to know whether the performance of the grafted tree will resemble the performance of the original seedling. In this study, the performance of avocado and mango seedlings was compared to that of their grafted duplicates. Significant differences were found in only 8 out of 36 avocado traits and 2 out of 10 mango traits. Significant seedling × graft interaction was detected in 10 other avocado traits. These differences were considered of no practical significance, indicating that for most traits selection could be carried out on ungrafted seedlings.