THE INFLUENCE OF MISTING FREQUENCIES ON THE WATER RELATIONS AND ROOTING PHYSIOLOGY OF <em>SHOREA</em> <em>LEPROSULA</em> LEAFY STEM CUTTINGS

Abstract

In a misting experiment on Shorea leprosula leafy stem cuttings, the rooting percentage obtained ranged from 50 to 63%. There was no significant effect of a one-minute misting applied at intervals of 1, 3 and 6 h on the rooting ability of the cuttings. However, fewer roots were obtained with a 6-h interval compared to either 1- or 3-h misting interval (2.4 versus 3.3 and 3.5 respectively). This may be attributed to the lower photosynthetic rates (P.) which were also associated with low irradiance received by the treatment. The results presented here demonstrate the interdependence of misting frequency and incident radiation. From the present study, a misting frequency of 1 min duration at hourly intervals is recommended to ensure adequate water content and photosynthetic activity of cuttings. It was also observed that rooting was associated with lower cutting volume while cuttings with high stem volume were more prone to die.