Evaluation Shooting Performance and Survival Percentage of Hardwood and Semi-hardwood Cuttings in Exotic Culstivars of Kiwifruit (Actinidia spp.)

Abstract

The investigation was conducted in the kiwifruit block of Department of Fruit Science, Dr. Yashwant Singh Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni, Solan (H.P.) during 2019-20. The experiment entitled "Evaluation of hardwood and semi-hardwood cuttings for shooting performance and survival percentage in exotic cultivars of Kiwifruit (Actinidia spp.)". The experiment consisted of eight exotic cultivars as treatments, and the research trial was laid out according to a Randomized Block Design (RBD). The entire programme of study was conducted to elucidate the comparative shooting performance of hardwood and semi-hardwood cuttings in exotic cultivars of kiwifruit, i.e., Anna, Chung Bai, Cordifolia, Issai Kiwi, Kens Red, Meader Male, MSU Klur, and 74-49. Among different cultivars, Kens Red exhibited the best performance in terms of shoot length, shoot diameter, shoot root ratio, fresh shoot weight, and dry shoot weight. The cultivar Anna performed the least on the basis of the aforesaid parameters. The survival percentage after field transplanting was also found to be highest in the Kens Red cultivar, whereas it was recorded as the lowest in the Anna cultivar. Among different cutting types, semi-hardwood cuttings of different cultivars performed better as compared to hardwood cuttings concerning parameters like shoot root ratio and survival percentage and hardwood cuttings of different cultivars performed better as compared to semi-hardwood cuttings with respect to parameters like shoot length, shoot diameter, fresh shoot weight, and dry shoot weight. The information generated on the propagation of these new exotic kiwiberry cultivars will serve as a basis for researchers in developing new rootstocks for the quality production of plants.