Biometric characterization, growth seedlings and handle grafting of the new rootstock of precocious dwarfed cashew

Abstract

There is an increasing demand for cashew cuttings, Anacardium occidentale L., so it’s necessary to select new genotypes to use as rootstock in the asexual propagation of these tropical fruit plants. In this context, the present work was developed to select genotypes with good crop characteristics in order that few rootstocks of precocious dwarfed cashew. The essays were carried out at Embrapa Tropical Agroindústria, in Fortaleza, Ceará, from November, 2003 to September, 2004, using nine genetic materials of precocious dwarfed cashew: P3BI-1, P3BIII, P4B-1, P6BII-2, P3BI-2, P6BIII-1, P5BIII, P3BII-2 and clone CCP 06. In the study, we evaluated the biometric characterization of the seeds, the behavior of the procreation and growth of the seedlings, and the tolerance of the genotypes under stress saline condition. We observed that genotypes 1 (P3BI-1), 6 (P6BIII-1), 7 (P5BIII) and 8 (P3BII-2) presented the heaviest chestnuts. However, the average values of the biometric characteristics of genotypes 2 (P3BIII) and 4 (P6BII-2) were close to the ones observed in Clone CCP 06, genotype commercially used as rootstock. It was observed that, in general, the genotypes presented good characteristics of growth and development of seedlings and the index of handle of grafting with Clone CCP 06 were equal or superior at 90 %.