Optimizing Early Grafting of Persian Walnut by Evaluating Different Rootstocks, Covering Materials and Grafting Methods

Grafting on epicotyl of young seedlings has been introduced as a simple and rapid method for walnut propagation. Although this technique improves the grafting success and propagation efficiency, it is technically more demanding than the conventional walnut grafting procedures and is yet to be optimized. This study was aimed to investigate the influence of rootstock type (dwarf and standard genotypes), graft union covering materials (perlite, sawdust, coco-peat and perlite at 1:1 ratio, and without cover - control) and different epicotyl grafting procedures (Gandev-Arnaudov and Frutos) on grafting success and performance of the grafted plants in order to optimize the walnut epicotyl grafting. Walnut seedlings were grown in a greenhouse. After four weeks, dormant shoots of walnut ‘Chandler’ were grafted to the epicotyl of young walnut seedlings. Grafting success and callusing quality were recorded 30 days after grafting. Growth parameters of the grafted plants, including number of nodes and length of internodes, height and diameter of scion, and survival of the grafted plants, were determined 150 days after grafting. Enhanced grafting success and performance of the grafted scions were obtained by following the Frutos’s procedure. Moreover, the highest grafting success (75.1%) and survival of the plants (91.7%) were obtained by using the dwarf rootstock and application of sawdust as graft union cover. In conclusion, performing walnut epicotyl grafting according to Frutos’s procedure by using dwarf genotypes as rootstock and covering the graft union with sawdust was suggested to obtain maximum propagation efficiency (68.7%).