Effects of cutting types and hormonal concentration on vegetative propagation of Zanthoxylum armatum in Garhwal Himalaya, India

Abstract

Experiments were carried out to define the effects of hormonal concentrations on semi-hard wood (SHW) and hard-wood (HW) branch cuttings of the Z. armatum. SHW and HW cuttings were collected in the month of March. The SHW and HW cuttings were treated with different concentration of indole-3-acetic acid and indole-3-butyric acid (IAA and IBA) and placed in vermiculite rooting medium for 90 days under 1-min misting after 10 min. Sprouting, rooting percentage, sprout number, sprout length, root number, and length were measured. The highest rooting and sprouting rate, 64.0 %, was obtained at the 0.3 % IBA treatment in the SHW cuttings. Similarly sprout length and number of roots per cutting were also higher at the 0.3 % IBA treatment in the SHW cuttings. The number of shoots per cutting was higher at the 0.3 % IAA treatment in the SHW cuttings. Root length per cutting was higher in 0.4 % IBA treatment in the SHW cuttings. The results indicated that 0.3 and 0.4 % IBA treatment produce higher rooting percentages as well as the number of roots and their length in SHW cuttings. The HW cuttings produced maximum rate of 18.0 % rooting in 0.5 % IBA treatment. The control set and lower concentrations of IBA and IAA completely failed to root in the mist chamber.