Top Grafting Performance of Some Cocoa (Theobroma cacao L.) Clones as Affected by Scion Budwood Number

Abstract

Reducing budwood number is an efficient effort to overcome problems related with limited scion materials. The objective of this research was to study the effect of scion budwood number in some clones on the performance of grafted cocoa seedlings. The research was conducted at Kaliwining Research Station, Indonesian Coffee and Cocoa Research Institute, Jember, Indonesia at an elevation of 48 m above sea level. Layout for this study used factorial with 2 factors in randomized complete block design, with four replications for every treatment. The first factor was clone type, namely MCC 02 and Sulawesi 1; whereas the second factor was number of grafted scion budwood, namely one, two, and three grafted budwoods. There was no interaction between clone and number of scion budwood for variables of shoot length, stem girth, content of total chlorophyll, chlorophyll a, and chlorophyll b. Meanwhile, there was interaction for stomatal conductance and stomatal diffusion resistance. Clone significantly affected photosynthesis and stomatal diffusion resistance, while number of scion budwood affected significantly the shoot length. Photosynthesis activity of MCC 02 was higher compared to Sulawesi 1. In average, stomatal diffusion resistance of Sulawesi 1 was higher than MCC 02. The shoot length of one grafted budwood was higher than the two or three grafted budwood.

Keywords

• top grafting
• budwood
• clones
• cocoa