Performance of Mango (Mangifera indica L.) Grafts cv. Alphonso Raised in Soilless Media in Various Types of Containers

In world, Konkan region is famous for cultivation of king of mangoes ‘Alphonso’. Along with production, export and processing of Alphonso, this coastal belt is famous for supply of best quality planting material producing more than one crore grafts every year. Mango grafts are raised in polybag of size 6” x 8” weighing 1.5 kg available for sale after 9 months. In recent years, it was reported by farmers that polybags produced seedlings having spiralled and deformed root system reduce outplanting survival and performance of mango grafts within few years after plantation. Use of discarded plastic water bottles as root trainer could be a feasible alternative for seedling propagation. An experiment entitled “Performance of mango (Mangifera indica L.) grafts cv. Alphonso raised in soilless media in various types of containers” was carried out during the period 2023 at Department of Fruit Science, College of Horticulture, Dapoli, Dist. Ratnagiri in randomized block design with four replications and six treatments viz. T1-Nursery bag (6×8 Inch), T2-Green bottle (2.25 lit), T3-Transparent bottle (2.25 lit), T4-Transparent bottle (1 lit), T5-Black root trainer (0.5 lit), T6-Nursery bag (6×8 Inch) (with soil:FYM 3:1 as control). Mango grafts raised in transparent bottle (2.25 lit) with media cocopeat + leaf manure + vermicompost (1:1:2) recorded the highest sprouting (98.13 %), height (29.33 cm), girth (12.32 mm), leaf area (523.48 cm2), root length (25.50 cm), dry root weight (11.00 g) and survival (98.13 %) at 180 days after grafting with 1.84 benefit: cost.