Propagation and renewal characteristics of loquat germplasm

Loquat growth characteristics were observed under same planting conditions using the root stock of Jiefangzhong.Grafting survival rate,seedling rate,graft growth volume and number of branches were recorded.The result showed that:(1) All growth characteristics were significantly different among the 255 germplasms with the coefficients of variance ranging from 15.07% to 28.45%.Very significant correlations existed between the grafting survival rate and the seedling rate(correlation coefficient=0.4221),growth volume of graft(correlation coefficient = 0.3299) and number of branches(correlation coefficient = 0.2837).(2) The growth volume of graft of the loquat germplasm from Yunnan was the largest,significantly larger than those from New Zealand,Jiangsu,Japan,Fujian and Hubei.The numbers of branches were significantly different among all samples,with those came from Sichuan to be the highest and those from Guangxi the lowest.(3) The graft growth volume of the wild loquat was very significantly larger than that of the cultivated loquat.And,(4) all growth characteristics of the polyploid loquat were very significantly poorer than the diploid loquat.The results provided a basis for the resource preservation and utilization of loquat germplasm.