Farm Power And Machinery (1+1)

Grafting

• Grafting is a method of asexual plant propagation widely used in agriculture and horticulture where the tissues of one plant are encouraged to fuse with those of another. It is most commonly used for the propagation of trees and shrubs grown commercially. (Grafting is limited to dicots and gymnosperms. Monocots lack the vascular cambium required).
• In most cases, one plant is selected for its roots, and this is called the stock or rootstock. The other plant is selected for its stems, leaves, flowers, or fruits and is called the scion. The scion contains the desired genes to duplicated in future production by the stock/scion plant.
• In stem grafting, a common grafting method, a shoot of a selected, desired plant cultivar is grafting onto the stock of another type.
• In another common from called budding, a dormant side bud is grafting on the stem of another stock plant, and when it has fused successfully, it is encouraged to grow by cutting out the stem above the new bud.
• For successful grafting to take place, the vascular cambium tissues of the stock and scion plants must be placed in contact with each other. Both tissues must be kept alive until the graft has taken, usually a period of a few weeks. Successful grafting only required that a vascular connection takes place between the two tissues. A physical weak point after still occurs at the graft, because the structural tissue of the two distinct plants, such as wood may not fuse.
Reasons for Grafting and Budding

• Change varieties or cultivars
• Optimize cross-pollination and pollination.
• Take advantage of particular rootstocks
• Benefit from inter stocks
• Perpetuate clones
• Produce certain plant forms
• Repair damaged plants
• Increase the growth rate of seedlings
• Index viruses