Influence of Planting dates, Cutting types and IBA Concentrations on Rooting of Silvery (Leucophyllum frutescens)

Abstract

The current experiment was executed to study impact of different planting dates during 2016-2017 (July 01, July 16, July 31, August 15 and August 30) and two cutting types i.e. Hard wood and Semi-hard wood cuttings on rooting response of Silvery treated with various concentrations of IBA (control, 2000, 4000, 6000 and 8000 ppm) at Ornamental Nursery, Horticulture Department, The University of Agriculture Peshawar. The trial was arranged in Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with split-split plot arrangement. Planting dates were reserved in main plot, cutting types were taken in the sub plot and IBA concentrations were in sub-sub plot. The average results of two years showed that planting dates, cutting types and IBA treatments and their interactions significantly affected all the growing and rooting parameters. Cuttings planted on July 16 revealed minimum days to sprouting (12.52), more number of sprouts (5.79), high sprout length (44.80 cm), more number of leaves (123), more number of roots (4.73), and plant survival percentage (61.78 %) as compared to the cuttings planted on August, 30 in both the years. Regarding cutting types, semi hard wood cuttings took minimum days to sprouting (16.91), more number of sprouts (4.30), sprout length (32.74 cm) number of leaves (113), number of roots (3.66) and higher plant survival percentage (40.81 %) in comparison to hard wood cuttings. Among various concentrations of IBA, application of IBA at the rate of 8000 ppm resulted in maximum number of sprouts (4.36), number of leaves (113), number of roots (3.61) and plant survival percentage (40.37 %) while minimum days to sprouting (17.07) were noticed at this treatment as compared to the control treatment. Years also exhibited significant impact for all the parameters. The interactive effect of planting dates, cutting types and various IBA concentrations had significant effect on all the parameters. Planting dates and cutting types interaction (PD × CT) significantly affected all the parameters except plant survival percentage. Therefore, it can be determined from the results that, in monsoon season planting of the semi-hard wood cuttings on July, 16 treated with 8000 ppm IBA concentration initiated better vegetative and root growth of Silvery under the climatic conditions of Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan.