ROOTING RESPONSE OF <em>DESMODIUM</em> <em>ELEGANS</em> AS INFLUENCED BY AUXINS, ROOTING MEDIUM, KIND AND SOURCE OF CUTTINGS

Abstract

A study was conducted to analyse the effect of auxins, rooting medium (soil
type and soil depth), position, maturity and source (altitude) of Desmodium elegans stem cuttings on their rooting ability. Profuse rooting occurred when the branch cuttings were treated with indole-3-butyric acid (IBA) followed by indole-3-acetic acid (IAA). But poor rooting was noticed when cuttings were treated with naphthalene acetic acid (NAA). Control cuttings exhibited poor rooting as compared to treated ones. There was no significant impact of soil types on rooting response of branch cuttings and the data were comparable in eroded and garden soil. Planting depths, however, greatly influenced the rooting behaviour of the cuttings and those planted at 10-cm depth had a significantly high number of rooted branch cuttings compared to those inserted at 5- or 15-cm depth. Maturity influenced significantly (p=0.05)
rooting capacity of stem cuttings. On average, old and mature cuttings planted at 10-cm depth into the soil had excellent rooting capacity compared to young branch cuttings. Further, branch cuttings harvested from the lower canopy of the mother tree produced rooting in a significantly (p=0.05) higher number of branch cuttings than those from the upper canopy of the same tree. Elevational range of propagation material also significantly determined (p=0.05) the root-shoot attributes of branch cuttings; those harvested from high (2000 m) altitude had better rooting than those of low (1350 m) altitude.