Marimuthu, S., Botany and Plant Improvement Division, UPASI Tea Research Foundation, Coimbatore, India, Woodbriar group of Tea Estates, Coimbatore, India; Ilango R, V.J., Botany and Plant Improvement Division, UPASI Tea Research Foundation, Coimbatore, India

Grafting of fresh tea (Camellia sinensis (L.) O. Kuntze) cuttings in the nursery offers the possibility to raise composite plants with superior traits. To increase the land productivity, grafted tea plants are greatly preferred in replanting programs in South India. Hence, the present study was conducted to widen the choice of compatible grafts and to know the consistency in nursery and field performances of grafted tea plants. The clone TRF-4 was used as scion for grafting on the rootstock clones UPASI-2, UPASI-6, UPASI-9, and UPASI-26. Nursery assessments showed that all grafted plants produced more vigorous composite plants than self-rooted TRF-4. However, field assessment indicated significant effects of stock-scion interaction on the performance of grafted plants. Significant increases in yield and canopy spread were noted when TRF-4 was grafted on UPASI-9, UPASI-2 and UPASI-26. However, composite plants of TRF-4 grafted on the rootstocks of UPASI-6 recorded lower field survival and yields compared to the self-rooted TRF-4. This result suggests that nursery performance is not a reliable index to judge the field performance of grafted plants. © 2020, © 2020 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.