PERFORMANCE OF AVOCADO (PERSEA-AMERICANA MILL) AND MANGO (MANGIFERA-INDICA L) SEEDLINGS COMPARED WITH THEIR GRAFTED TREES

Most fruit-tree breeding projects are based on selection of seedlings in regard to their performance. The selected seedlings are vegetativel y propagated, usually by grafting. It is highly important for the bree der to know whether the performance of the grafted tree will resemble the performance of the original seedling. In this study the performanc e of avocado and mango seedlings was compared with that of their graft ed duplicates. Significant differences were found in only 8 out of 36 avocado traits and 2 out of 10 mango traits. Significant seedling x gr aft interaction was detected in 10 other avocado traits. These differe nces were considered of no practical significance, since their magnitu de was of minor importance for the breeder. The conclusion for avocado and mango breeders is that for most traits selection could be carried out on ungrafted seedlings.