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Abstract

Rootstock selection is a key to the establishment of a successful olive orchard with genotypes suitable for specific environments to attain improved growth and yield. For assessing the role of grafting based on the performance of already grafted fruit plants, it has been observed that different research studies have been conducted on this topic, but very little work has been done so far on the wild relatives. This research evaluated the impact of grafting five high-yielding genotypes onto two wild olive rootstocks across the agroecological zones of Pakistan. Performance was evaluated based on survival and early growth. The results of the study showed substantial variation between the rootstocks and genotypes in survival percentage, graft sprouting, shoot length, and number of shoots per graft under diverse conditions. The performance of O. cuspidata was superior in Bagh, Kotli, Muzaffarabad, Soghaly Talash, and Kotli Sattian for graft sprouting and survival percentage compared to O. ferruginea. Shoot length was higher with both rootstocks in Soghaly, Kotli, and Murree. On O. ferruginea rootstock, Arbequina, Frantoio, and Leccino produced longer shoots in AJK and KP, while Gemlik and Pendallino showed inferior performance nationwide. On O. cuspidata, Gemlik produced lengthy shoots in KP and AJK, while Frantoio had shorter shoots. All genotypes had dwarf shoots in Sindh, except for Arbequina and Pendallino. Gemlik was found superior for survival with O. cuspidata in AJK, KP, and Punjab; however, Arbequina performed better in Sindh. Arbequina, Frantoio, and Leccino succeeded on O. ferruginea in AJK, KP, Punjab, and Sindh. Arbequina and Coratina produced more shoots in KP with O. cuspidata. Coratina and Leccino also resulted in a higher number of shoots in Punjab, and genotype Gemlik also resulted in a greater number of shoots per graft in Sindh. Keywords: Rootstock, Olive, Grafting, Sprouting, Shoots

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