‘Mattu gulla’ can be grafted on to inferior varieties of brinjal

Resulting variety will not have thorns and will yield more

Mattu Gulla brinjal variety with GI tag. Photo: A.J. Vinayak

It is possible to graft an ordinary variety of brinjal with the famed “mattu gulla” variety and get brinjals that are like “mattu gulla”.

No thorns

Umesh Devadiga, gardener at Father Muller Medical College (FMMC), said he had grafted the “mattu gulla” onto a less superior variety brinjal plant. Once the graft was successful, the plant would yield large, green, brinjals without thorns, which are just like “mattu gulla”. The normal plant has yellow brinjals with thorns, making it difficult to handle.

More yields

Another advantage with the vegetables from the grafted plant is that the resulting plant yields the vegetable perennially.

He said, “I have got 8 kg of the vegetable from one pot over a period of one year.” Yogesh H.R., Deputy Director, Department of Horticulture, Dakshina Kannada, said since the “mattu gulla” is a sought-after variety for its qualities of taste and for being almost seedless and therefore there are people who try to get brinjals with similar qualities.

No commercial use

However, Mr. Devadiga’s grafted plants are not for commercial use. He said, “He may be doing the grafting as a hobby. Farmers keep innovating and observing the results.”

Mr. Yogesh said that the Department is working toward “multiplying” the “mattu gulla” variety as it is an indigenous variety unique to the region and would be therefore popular.