Abstract

A field experiment was carried during 2012-2013 in a farmer’s field at T. K. Pudur, Pollachi taluk, Coimbatore district, Tamil Nadu to standardize the grafting technique for rejuvenation of low and unproductive cocoa trees. The study aimed to reveal the success of graft union and growth characters in the rejuvenation process. The rejuvenation operations viz., snapping, notching and girdling were taken up during the month of November, Grafting with scions of productive trees onto low and unproductive trees of cocoa on 60 or 90 days old stocks was done. The grafting on 60 days old stock, which had Involved snapping had recorded the highest graft success of 67.67 % compared to other treatments. Taking into consideration the performance of various rejuvenation methods and age of the stock on which grafting was done, it was found that the treatment of snapping and grafting on 60 days old stock would be a better and suitable technique for rejuvenation of low and unproductive cocoa trees.

Keywords: Cocoa (Theobroma cacao L.), Unproductive trees, Rejuvenation, Snapping and grafting