Assessment of Graft Compatibility of Some Olive Cultivars on ‘Gemlik’ Rootstock by Florescence Microscopy

A florescence microscopy was used to assess the graft compatibility of five scions of olives and one rootstock. The cultivars inspected were ‘Gemlik’, ‘Memecik’, ‘Sari Ulak’, ‘Nizip Yaglik’ and ‘Domat’ where the rootstock was ‘Gemlik’. Anomalies have been observed in some grafts, such as differences in the growth of scions and rootstock trunk diameters. The study reports the extent of callus growth, cambial differentiation, cambial continuity and formation of vascular tissues of these olive cultivars in applied grafts by florescence microscopy. A good callus growth was observed in the cambial development of vascular tissues in these samples. The formation of air pockets in side grafts was also found. Successful compatible grafts of ‘Gemlik’, ‘Memecik’, ‘Nizip Yaglik’, and ‘Sari Ulak’ cultivars were identified using ‘Gemlik’ rootstock. The scions of ‘Domat’ grafted onto ‘Gemlik’ induced limited callus and cambial development, resulting only in partial success of the grafts, and with the formation of air pockets. Weak grafts; dark brown necrotic regions along the lines of the graft in the callus tissue borders were also observed. Phenolic compounds causing necrosis in the graft zone were also identified by histochemical investigation.