Stockplant factors affecting root initiation in cuttings ofTriplochiton scleroxylonK. Schum., an indigenous hardwood of west africa

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SummaryThe ability of auxin-treated T. scleroxylon cuttings to root was affected by the prior management of potted stockplants. In undecapitated single-stem stockplants more cuttings from upper rather than lower mainstem nodes rooted; a difference paralleled by leaf water potential immediately after severance, although there was also a positive relationship with internode length. The rooting percentage of mainstem cuttings from unpruned stockplants ranged from 15% to 43% whereas that of cuttings from the lateral shoots of pruned stockplants ranged from 40% to 83%. Considerably more cuttings rooted from stockplants which were severely pruned than from those where decapitation removed only the top node; there seemed to be an inverse relationship with the number of shoots per plant and the carbohydrate: nitrogen ratio. However, in tall pruned stock- plants, more cuttings from lower lateral (basal) than from upper (apical) shoots rooted, although the differences between cuttings from basal and apical lateral ...