The effect of cutting type, leaf area, leaf number, putrescine and indole-3-Butyric acid on the rooting of Ficus cuttings (Ficus elastica Roxb. ex Hornem.)

Abstract

In order to study the importance of lateral or apical buds and also the possibility of replacing the role of bud and leaf with Putrescine (Put) and auxin, three experiments were conducted using leaf-bud cuttings with intact leaf blade (full blade) or halved-blade, and terminal cuttings having 1 to 4 leaves of Ficus elastica. Treatments included IBA (0, 2000 mg/l) and Put (0, 1000, 2000, 4000 mg/l). Comparing the lateral cuttings with intact or halved-blade showed that the rooting of the cuttings with intact leaf blade was better. The longest root length and the best rooting index were observed in cuttings treated with 1000 mg/l Put + 2000 mg/l IBA. The highest root number resulted from the IBA treatment. In cuttings with halved-leaf blade, Put along with IBA improved the indices of rooting in comparison with the control. The rooting of leaf-bud cutting was better in comparison with apical cuttings and the application of Put with IBA increased rooting indices in both types of cuttings and there was no significant difference between the different concentrations of Put. Results showed that terminal cuttings with three and four leaves had the longest, heaviest and most abundant roots, and that the rooting index resulted in the highest value. The rooting of leaf-bud cutting with intact leaf blade was better than that of one-leaf apical cutting. In general, the experiment showed that in the one-leaf terminal cutting, the apical bud has a negative effect on rooting and the increase in the leaf area or the application of Put with Auxin improves rooting.