Duplicating At-Risk Breadfruit (Artocarpus spp.) Accessions Using Air-Layer Propagation

Breadfruit (Artocarpus altilis (Parkinson) Fosberg) is a culturally and nutritionally significant perennial crop of the Pacific Islands. National Tropical Botanical Gardens Kahanu Garden (Maui, Hawai i) maintains a breadfruit collection representing more than 150 traditional varieties, some unique or irreplaceable and requiring safety duplication to safeguard genetic diversity. However, aging trees exhibit variable vigor, potentially limiting clonal propagation outcomes. We assessed air layering as a strategy for conservation duplication, conducting 163 air-layer attempts across 26 priority accessions. We evaluated the influence of tree vigor, age, and branch characteristics on rooting success and survival to out-planting. Overall, 17% successfully rooted and 75% of those survived to out-planting, resulting in successful duplication of 16 of 26 at-risk accessions. Rooting success differed among vigor classes (33% for high-vigor trees; 11-16% for normal and feeble trees) and increased modestly with source tree age, while survival to out-planting declined with increasing age. Branch length and fruiting season were not associated with outcomes. These findings indicate that air layering can support conservation propagation in living collections, but success is strongly influenced by source tree age and condition. Initiating safety duplication while trees are physiologically robust is likely to improve long-term conservation outcomes.