Effects of ambient, cultivar and wrapping materials on grafting success of persimmons (Diospyros kaki Thunb.)

Grafting is the most widely used method for the persimmon clonal propagation, but due to variable agricultural conditions, different skills are adopted by the nurseries across the world. The afghan nursery growers mainly used Diospyros lotus as rootstock for the Diospyros kaki production. A traditional practice is that they cover union of the grafted plant with the mud having a dress of the polyethylene film on the exterior part. Based on the grafters’ speculation, mud keeps moisture around the union and through enhances rate of the grafting success. Although no research has been conducted to prove these benefits, this practice is looking laborious, infectious, and time-consuming. The present study was designed to elucidate advantages of the traditional method and assess other useful alternatives for the persimmon grafting in Afghanistan condition. The two-year-old seedlings of D. lotus grown in the field and transplanted to perforated black polyethylene bags at the beginning of their second year were grafted to ‘Rojo Brillante’ and ‘Samarkheli’ persimmon cultivars using the cleft method and then subjected to five treatments: covering scion and union with a waterproof paper bag, covering scion and union with a transparent polyethylene bag, sealing scion and union with a layer of buddy tape, sealing graft union with mud, and scion without wrapping or bared. In the second year, the experiment repeated with the same manner, except the ambient (open field and closed polytunnel) was added as a new factor and two previous wrapping treatments (waterproof paper and polyethylene bag) were changed to a food wrapping polyethylene film. After 65 days, percentage of graft success, shoot number, shoot length, and shoot thickness were affected by the treatments. In both years, high graft success (≥92%) achieved with buddy tape while the rest including mud treatment resulted no more than ten percent success. Neither the cultivar nor the ambient had a significant effect over the success of grafting. The ‘Rojo Brillante’ produced significantly more shoot number, shoot length, and shoot thickness per plant than ‘Samarkheli’ at both years. Thus, instead of mud, whole scion and union of the persimmons should be sealed with a layer of buddy tape in order to obtain optimum grafting success.