Advances in propagation of avocado

Abstract

Being the avocado a highly cross-pollinated and heterozygous species, its multiplication from seeds produces a highly variable progeny in relation to the morphological and biological characteristics of the parents. Therefore, the adoption of more efficient propagation methods for obtaining higher quality seedlings in terms of production and disease resistance became relevant. Scion grafting onto a seedling rootstock is mostly used in the commercial propagation of avocado trees in Brazil and in the main producing countries. However, such a procedure confers great variability and differences in fruit yield and quality and in vigor among the plants in the field. In countries with a higher technological level, the rootstock has been obtained by clonal methods (Frolich and Platt, Brokaw, Allesbeste), associated with other techniques such as etiolation and girdling. The present literature review describes the main propagation methods currently used for avocado, their advances and the importance of breeding and new research techniques on the obtention of new rootstocks and scion cultivars that shall meet the market demands.

Index terms
Persea americana Mill; grafting; clonal rootstock; etiolation; girdling