Effect of Entophytic Bacteria on the Rooting and Establishment of Cuttings of Hibiscus Rosasinensis

Abstract

Any plants that are propagated vegetatively are likely to have an enduring community of bacterial colonists that are transferred in successive progeny generations. The plant growth promoting effects attributed to endophytes are due to the direct production of phytohormones such as auxins, cytokinins etc or through the induction of phytohormone synthesis by the plant. Being a vegetatively propagated plant species, Hibiscus rosasinensis shoots are amenable for treatment with endophytic bacteria. The effect of endophytic bacteria on the rooting and establishment of cuttings of Hibiscus rosasinensis was studied here. Four endophytic isolates and the consortium of them screened for their plant hormone production was used for this study. The treatment of cuttings with the tomato isolate LEE19 (Klebsiella sp.) for 12 hours, showed 75 % sprouting of cuttings and the highest shoot and root parameters compared to uninoculated cuttings. The rooting also increased to 100 % in LEE19 treatment. The treatment of entophytic bacteria increased significantly the number of leaves/ cutting, the shoot length, root length and fresh weight of roots. So the pre-plant stem treatment of cuttings can be recommended as a strategy for substituting or supplementing the use of chemical plant growth hormones in vegetative propagation of cuttings.