Cloning of shrubby camu-camu on shrubby and arboreal camu-camu rootstocks

Abstract

The camu-camu (Myrciaria dubia (H.B.K.) McVaugh) is a shrubby indigenous fruit species found in the floodplains of Amazonia region. There is considerable local and international commercial interest in this fruit, because of its high Vitamin C content. The species is commonly propagated by seeds, showing considerable variation in age of bearing, production cycle, fruit yields and Vitamin C contents. Another species, Myrciaria floribunda (West ex Willd.) O. Berg, occurs less frequently in the region. The present study evaluated different types of grafting, and interspecific compatibility between shrubby and arboreal camu-camu to obtain cloned plants of M. dubia. The experiment was carried out from March to August 2008 at the Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia, Manaus, AM, in a randomized complete blocks design arranged as a 4 (type of grafting) x 2 (rootstock species) factorial plan, with 4 replicates. M. dubia as rootstock was better in regard to grafting sticking (78,4%) than M. floribunda (49,3%). The best results of M. dubia grafting were attained when the rootstock crown was cut off 30 days after grafting: side cleft graft (89,3%) and side-tongue graft (79,3%). On the other hand, the performance of both rootstocks was lower with the types of grafting where the rootstock crown was cut off at the same time as grafted: cleft graft (51,6%) and whip and tongue graft (31,5%).