Environmental influences on grafting success of Prosopis ruscifolia (vinal) onto Prosopis alba (algarrobo blanco)

Prosopis ruscifolia, with its 15 cm long spines, has spread onto vast areas of Argentine grazing lands and formed dense impenetrable stands. We examined grafting the highly respected Prosopis alba (algarrobo blanco) onto Prosopis ruscifolia (vinal) rootstock, with the objective of converting undesirable stands of vinal into desirable stands of P, alba. This grafting experiment examined five dates and three light treatments (full-sunlight, half-shade and 'tent' treatment 30 x 40 cm black plastic shade). The full-sun, half-shade and tent treatments gave 2.4 +/- 2.02, 6.0 +/- 1.22 and 6.6 +/- 0.99 (mean +/- 95% confidence interval) successful grafts out of 10, respectively. Future work should evaluate grafting of P. ruscifolia coppice resprouts with P. alba scions, after the P. ruscifolia trees have been harvested for fuelwood or lumber. Elite P. alba clones are now available for use in grafting. (C) 2000 Academic Press.