Vol. 9, Special Issue 10, Part L (2025)

The present investigation entitled “Standardization of grafting technique in Annona reticulata L. (Bullock’s heart)” was conducted at Custard Apple Research Station, Ambajogai during the year of 2024-2025. The investigation was carried out with twenty treatment combination comprising five different time of grafting (1^st March, 15^th March, 1^st April, 15^th April and 1^st May) and four length (6, 8, 10 and 12 cm) of scion sticks were tried in Randomized Block Design with Factorial concept (FRBD) with 4 replications. Minimum days required for sprouting (12.63), days taken for first leaf opening (13.56) and mortality percentages after 30 and 120 days (5.31 and 10.00%), maximum leaf area (44.31, 50.31, 56.31 and 62.31 cm²), length of shoot (8.94, 13.44, 17.94 and 21.25 cm), diameter of shoot (0.84, 1.69, 2.38 and 3.01 mm), number of leaves (14.44, 28.69, 36.19 and 38.44) at 30, 60, 90 and 120 DAG respectively. Maximum success rate (94.69 and 90.00%) at 30 and 120 days. Maximum length of root (27.00 cm), diameter of root (2.68 mm), fresh and dry weight of root (25.06 and 9.22 g) after 120 days was found when grafting can be made successfully on 15^th March (G₂) and 10 cm (L₃) long scion sticks. From the results of present investigation, it can be inferred that softwood grafting in bullock’s heart (Annona reticulata L.) can be done successfully when 10 cm long scion sticks were grafted on 15^th March recording maximum number of sprouted grafts, minimum days taken for first leaf opening, maximum number of leaves per graft along with minimum mortality and highest percentage of survival.