Patch budding in khejri (Prosopis cineraria)

For vegetative propagation of knejri (Prosopis cineraria), elite selected scion trees having a record of producing good quality edible pods were pruned during December to induce new growth-bearing juvenile buds. Scion buds taken from mother trees and patch budded in March on P. cineraria rootstock seedlings gave on an average 76% success. Budding success of 12 and 25% was on P. alba and P. nigra, respectively. Budding on P. juliflora rootstock was not successful. Scion buds sprouted 26–31 days after budding on different rootstock species. The rate of scion bud growth in terms of its length, diameter and linear growth depended on stem diameter of P. cineraria rootstock. Linear growth remained positively correlated with stem diameter of rootstock at the time of budding and ranged from 7 to 335 cm, 3 months after budding and 20–878 cm, 4 months after budding. Elite knejri trees can be multiplied in nursery by patch budding. The technique can also be used for top-working the wild seedling trees.