The quince tree has always been commercially propagated by cuttings. Due to the low vigor, mainly in the first years of the orchard, a series of works was developed in Brazil in order to enable the use of the Japanese quince tree (Chaenomeles sinensis Koehne) as a rootstock. The results were satisfactory but the lack of other options for more vigorous rootstocks for quince tree and the observations in the nursery and in the field of a higher vigor of the pear rootstocks 'Taiwan Nashi-C' (Pyrus calleryana Decne) and 'Taiwan Mamenashi' (Pyrus betulifolia Bunge), led us to verify the performance of quince cultivars grafted on 'Japonês', 'Taiwan Nashi-C', and 'Taiwan Mamenashi' rootstocks, in nursery conditions. The 'Provence', 'Mendoza Inta-37', 'Portugal', 'Smyrna', and 'Japonês' quinces were grafted using the cleft grafting method onto the 'Japonês', 'Taiwan Nashi-C', and 'Taiwan Mamenashi' seedlings and maintained in plastic bags (3 L capacity of substrate) in the dormant period. The scion sticks used had three buds each and were collected from mother plants at the Instituto Agronômico de Campinas (IAC). The experiment was accomplished at a nursery (50% light). The length and diameter of the grafts were measured at 60, 90, 120, and 150 days after the grafting and the percentage of sprouted grafts was evaluated after 150 days. The oriental rootstocks 'Taiwan Nashi-C' and 'Taiwan Mamenashi' presented good results at the nursery, with 'Taiwan Nashi-C' outstanding as rootstocks for 'Smyrna' and 'Mendoza Inta-37' quinces, whereas 'Taiwan Mamenashi' was the best rootstock for 'Smyrna' quince and 'Japonês' for 'Japonês' quince.
Pyrus calleryana; Pyrus betulifolia; Chaenomeles sinensis; Cydonia oblonga; propagation and grafting
