Effect of Growing Media and Storage of Stone on the Growth and Development of Mango (Mangifera indica L.) Rootstock cv. Local

An experiment was conducted to study the effects of different growing media and storage of stone on mango seedling during 2012-13. Different media mixtures and storage of stones showed significant effect on morphological characters of rootstock. The highest stone germination (74.26 %), stem diameter (6.15 mm), length (27.19 cm) and girth (5.21 mm) of tap root and vigour index (4719.34) was recorded in M3 (soil + FYM + leaf mould in 1:1:1 proportion) media whereas, stone sown immediately after extraction from fully ripe mango fruit showed the maximum stone germination (94.63 %), stem diameter (6.99 mm), length (31.74 cm) and girth (6.21 mm) of tap root and vigour index (7373.68). However, the treatment M S 3 0containing mixture of soil + FYM + leaf mould with freshly extracted mango stone from ripe fruits recorded the least time to germination (22.80 days) and maximum plant height (46.60 cm), number of leaves per seedling (18.03), fresh weight of shoot (22.33 g) and root (18.50 g), dry weight of shoot (17.43 g) and root (12.10 g) accumulation