WALNUT PROPAGATION USING A HOT WATER INSTALLATION AND GROWING THE OBTAINED PLANTS IN CONTAINERS

Dr. Stefan Gandev

Abstract: Walnut is among the fruit species difficult to be propagated and therefore different techniques and methods have been developed all over the world to improve the survival percentage of the new plants. The aim of the present experiment was to study the possibility of walnut propagation using a hot water installation and growing the obtained plants in containers. The experiment was carried out in the period 2013-2015 at the Fruit-Growing Institute. One-year old seedlings of common walnut (Juglans regia L.) were used as rootstocks, grafted with ‘Izvor 10’ cultivar. The plants were put for callus formation in the constructed hot water installation. Successfully propagated plants were grown in containers for two years. The results show that the developed hot water installation leads to obtaining 83.1% of successfully propagated plants. It was established that the newly grafted plants could be grown in containers for two years. After the first year the average stem diameter was 14.2 mm and the average plant height 22.4 cm. In the second year of growing in the containers the plants reached an average stem diameter of 24.5 mm and an average height of 110.8 cm. The conclusion was drawn that the constructed hot water installation favoured the production of a high percentage of successfully propagated plants, which could be grown in containers for two years.

Keywords: Juglans regia L., planting material, propagation, containers.

Date published: 2017-02-24