Seasonal and hormonal variation during adventitious rhizogenesis in five commercially important bamboo species for production of quality planting material

Abstract

ABSTRACT Adventitious rhizogenesis was achieved successfully from mature culms of five commercially important bamboo species. Experiments were conducted to find out the effect of three auxins, namely, Indole-3 acetic acid (IAA), Indole-3-butyric acid (IBA) and Napthalene acetic acid (NAA) each at 200 ppm concentration in cuttings of three diameter classes (1–2 cm, 2–3 cm and 3–4 cm) in three different seasons on rooting in Bambusa nutans, B. vulgaris var. green, B. tulda, B. bambos and Dendrocalamus strictus. The treatments were evaluated for rooting percentage and root number and root length (cm) after 3 months. Three factor interactions (species x cutting diameter size x auxin type) were significant for rooting percentage in all the seasons. Rooting capacity of cuttings was significantly improved by the application of various auxins and IBA was screened out to be the most effective auxin and spring season was found to be the most effective season resulting in luxuriant root formation in cuttings. In this season, maximum rooting was obtained in B. nutans (76.25%) followed by B. vulgaris var. green (74.50%), B. tulda (63.33%), and D. strictus (35%) with maximum number of roots and root length on treatment of IBA. For B. bambos, 23.33% rooting was observed in summer season along with maximum number of roots and root length. Therefore, spring season followed by summer season using single nodal culm cuttings treated with 200 ppm IBA is recommended for production of quality planting material of these bamboo species.