Effect of method of orchard establishment and propagation on growth and development of aonla (Emblica officinalis Gaertn.) plants in wastelands

Abstract: To standardize the rehabilitation technology for degraded pasture/grazing lands through aonla (Emblica officinalis), an experiment was conducted at Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Deendayal Research Institute, Satna for two consecutive years with 5 methods of orchard establishment (in situ raising of seedlings/rootstocks, transplanting of one month old seedlings/rootstocks raised in poly bags, transplanting of one year old seedlings/rootstocks raised in poly tubes, transplanting of ex situ raised grafts/budlings in poly bags and transplanting of ex situ raised grafts/budlings in nursery) and 5 methods of propagation, i.e. patch, shield, chip, forkert budding and wedge grafting. Growth parameters were higher in the plants raised by transplanting of one month old polythene raised seedling method for orchard establishment. The in situ raising of seedlings was found to be next suitable method in respect of growth parameters. Among the different methods of propagation, chip budding recorded the maximum growth of budlings closely followed by patch budding. The interaction between method of orchard establishment and propagation registered better growth of budlings under transplanting of one month old polythene raised seedling and performing chip budding next year. Based on these results, transplanting one month old seedlings/rootstocks raised in poly bags and performing chip budding next year during last week of June can be recommended for the rehabilitation of wastelands on a commercial scale for the economic utilization of such wastelands through aonla cultivation.