GRAFTED
PLANTS Six compatible graft partners have
also been identified by us. The high yielding,
drought susceptible clones such as UPASI-3, UPASI-8
and UPASI-17 can be cleft grafted on to the drought
tolerant root stock clones UPASI-2, UPASI-6 and
UPASI-9.Composite plants developed through grafting
are superior to the ungrafted clones in field.
When compared to the ungrafted scion clones, the
grafts have shown 30% increase in productivity.
To simplify the grafting technique and to make
large scale production commercially viable, graftingclips
were developed to secure the graft partners at
the graft interface. We have also developed motorised
scion and root stock maker to facilitate large
scale production of grafts. The new scion clones
such as BSB-1 and NLT/17/10 and the drought tolerant
clones TRI-2025, UPASI-26, C-1 and ATK were evaluated
for their graft compatibility. The graft success
ranged from 88 to 98 percent in different graft
combinations.
REJUVENATING THE
OLD NURSERY PLANTS BY CLEFT GRAFTING : Old
nursery plants retained in the nursery shed most
of their leaves
mature leaves after one year. If these plants
are planted in the field, low centering is not
possible since they were devoid of leaves in the
lower part of the stem. The over grown root system
of these plants has to be pruned first to retain
their length up to the end of the polythene sleeve.
They can be treated as rootstocks and cleft grafted
with any recommended scion clones. Both the single
nodal cuttings and crop shoots comprising three
leaves and a bud can be used for grafting. After
grafting, the composite plants should be kept
inside the polythene tunnel for facilitating grafting
union. Six /seven months after grafting, these
plants can be transferred to open space for hardening.
One year after grafting in the nursery, plants
will be fit for transplanting in the filed.
PROPAGATION
Vegetative propagation is carried out for clonal
multiplication while biclonal seed stocks are
propagated through seeds. V. P. Tea nursery should
be located near a perennial water source.  An
over head 'Pandal' is raised on which a coir mat
with 6 mm2 mesh is spread so as to allow about
33 percent sunlight at midday into the nursery.
Polythene sleeves with a dimension of 30x10 cm
are used for filling up the sandy loam/clayey
loam soils. One leaf and an internodal cutting
with an axillary bud prepared from the Aperiodic
shoots arising from pruned tea bush is planted
in the nursery sleeve and covered with a polythene
sheet of 400 g. April / May and August / September
are the most suitable months for planting in nursery.
The plants are allowed to grow for 10-12 months
in the nursery, after which they are transplanted
in the field.
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