RESPONSE OF VARIOUS INDIGENOUS WALNUT GENOTYPES TO GRAFT TAKE SUCCESS

A field experiment was conducted at Agricultural Research Institute, Mingora, Swat in 2007 to study the response of various indigenous walnut genotypes to graft take success. Eighteen indigenous walnut genotypes along with two exotic varieties ‘Serr’ and ‘Payne’ were tongue grafted on one year old local rootstock ‘Swat Local’ using a randomized complete block (RCB) design. Maximum graft take success was noted in genotype Ch-22 (75%) closely followed by Sw-8 (74%) while minimum (40%) in genotype Ch-7. Genotype Ch-20 attained maximum (192.4cm) plant height, stem diameter (25.9mm) and number of leaves per plant (43) The least plant height (56.6cm) was recorded in genotype Sw-46 while less average number of leaves per plant (15) by genotype Sw-14 during one growing season. Excluding a few genotypes, generally graft take success was above 60%. It was however, highly impressive in genotypes Ch-22 and Sw-8. This suggests higher degree of compatibility of these two genotypes with the tested walnut rootstock (Swat local) used in the region