Effect of culture media and growth regulators on micrografting of some sweet cherry cultivars

Micrografting is a new method for propagation of plant to create healthy gardens. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of different concentrations of culture medium and growth regulators on micrografting of some of sweet cherry cultivars in vitro using a factorial experiment based on a completely randomized design at the Khorasan Razavi Agricultural Research Center during 2015-2017. Micrografting with meristem scions from seven sweet cherry cultivars as the first factor were grown on rootstock of "Gisela 6" using cleft grafting in four different treatments of culture medium and growth regulators as the second factor. after grafting the micrografted plants were cultured in different treatments and after three weeks were transferred in MS medium with 1 mgl-1 IBA for rooting and then they were transferred to perlite/peat moss (1:1) for adaptation. The results showed significant differences between cultivars for all indices (except grafting time), but there were significant difference for all indices between treatments and interaction effects at the is probability level. MS culture medium containing 1 mgl-1 BA treatment had the highest successful grafting (39%), leaf number (4.7), longitudinal growth (6.2 cm) and grafting time (3.2 Day). Among the sweet cherry cultivars; "Hajyousefi" for successful grafting (35.4 %) and longitudinal growth (5 cm), "Siah-e Mashhad" for grafting time (3.8 Day), and "Dovomras" for leaf number index (3.5) had better results compared to other cultivars. In total, among successful micro grafted plants, percentage of rooting and adaptation were 41% and 25.3%, respectively. Micrografting of sweet cherry cultivar is a good method to accelerate plant propagation in order to recover unhealthy orchards of the sweet cherry trees.