Effects of auxin and misting on the rooting of herbaceous and hardwood cuttings from the fig tree

Abstract

Propagation of the fig tree predominately uses hardwood cuttings obtained from pruning stock plants. With a view to optimising fig tree propagation, the effects of auxin and misting on the rooting of herbaceous and hardwood cuttings from the fig tree were evaluated. An experiment was set up in a 2x2x2 factorial design, with two types of cuttings (softwood and hardwood), two levels of auxin (0 and 1000 mg L-1 indolbutyric acid) and two environments (with and without misting). Thirty days after starting the experiment, rooting, root length, sprouting and losses were all evaluated. The interaction of the type of cutting and the auxin was significant for rooting, sprouting, root length and cutting loss. Misting did not affect the variables analysed. In the absence of auxin, there was no difference between the type of cutting for rooting, length of root and sprouting, while the application of auxin (1,000 mg L-1) produced a reduction in these variables. The production of fig tree seedlings can be made from either softwood or hardwood cuttings and does not require the use of auxin or misting.