Commercial Citrus propagation in India, by shield/T budding is an age old practice and is confronted with the limitations of appropriate rootstock size/age (1 year old Rough lemon(C. jambhari Lush), 1 ½ to 2 year old Rangpur lime (C. limonia Osbeck)), scion wood (round twigs having white streaks which are season restricted) and favorable climate for budding. Further traditional budding takes longer time (about 22 months) to produce plantable bud grafts. A rapid and year round propagation technique known as “micro budding” that can reduce the nursery phase was developed first time in India at CCRI in Citrus reticulata Blanco Nagpur Mandarin on just 5 month old commercial Citrus rootstocks of Central India. This method is reliable & reproducible for all Citrus species (Sweet orange (C. sinensis Osbeck), Kinnow mandarin (C. nobilis x C. deliciosa) and other exotic cultivars also. This biotech break has tremendous scope in commercial propagation and research. It can be done in a low cost green house and reduces huge cost on labour and maintenance during the nursery phase. Through this technique CCRI has multiplied around 15,000 quality planting material of Nagpur mandarin in a time span of 11 - 12 months and released grafts to Citrus growers of Central India. Before releasing, the micro budded plants of Citrus reticulata Blanco Nagpur mandarin were evaluated for their performance in replicated field trials both at CCRI and on farmers fields. This paper reports the protocol and application of microbudding with promising citrus cultivars for early market supply to the farmers and initial field performance
