PROPAGATION OF MANGIFERA INDICA L. BY AIR-LAYERING

Inarching is one of the oldest methods used for propagation and in spite of its various drawbacks, it is still followed on commercial lines throughout the country. This method is tedious and involves several expensive operations from the raising of the root-stock till the graft is finally severed from the mother plants. Veneer grafting and budding has also been practiced with success. But in all these methods of propagation root-stocks raised from seeds, having genetic variations are invariably used. So until the problem of root-stocks is solved, propagation through air-layering, cutting or mound layering is the only way to get uniform clones.

Although air-layering with the application of growth regulators has been tried by a number of workers (1, 2, 3, 4), its relative success with different plant regulators, seasons and wrapping materials has not been studied systematically. A series of experiments were conducted at the Horticultural Garden, Bihar Agricultural College, Sabour, on these aspects.