Influence of young and mature budwood plants on growth and tappability of rubber

Abstract

Healthy buds from four year old young budwood plants, 20 year old mature budwood plants and 20 year old mature trees were collected and bud grafted onto seedling stock of recommended age and size in the ground nursery and the resultant budded stumps were raised in polybags. The plants were subjected to field evaluation during 2006. At the age of seven years, trees raised from young budwood plants recorded mean girth of 45.6 cm,while those from mature budwood plants had mean girth of 42.2 cm and trees raised from buds of mature trees showed significantly inferior girth of 33.7 cm. Trees raised from young budwood plants showed lesser tree to tree variation (CV: 12.76-14.79) coupled with significantly higher percentage of tappability (60.17%). Trees raised from mature budwood plants recorded higher tree to tree variation (CV: 15.47-19.68) with 39 per cent tappability. Plants developed from the tree buds recorded only 11 per cent tappability (CV: 23.11). Present study indicated that trees generated from young budwood plants showed higher tappability with better uniformity in girth than trees raised from mature budwood plants and mature trees.