Interaction ORIGINAL SCIENTIFIC between the PAPER time when taking hard wood cuttings and Indol Butyric Acid and Naphthalene Interaction between the time when taking hard wood cuttings and Indol Butyric Acid and Naphthalene Acetic acid in inducing rooting in blueberry cv. Bluecrop (Vaccinium corymbosum L.) Sabri BRAHA, Petrit RAMA Agricultural University of Tirana, Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture, Kodër Kamëz, SH1, 1029 Tirana, Albania, (e-mail: sabribraha@yahoo.com) Abstract The purpose of this research is to determine the differences in the rooting ability of welllignified one-year branches without fruit buds in the Bluecrop cultivar taken on February 15 th and March 15 th during the 2015 growing season. In order to improve the rooting, hard wood cuttings were treated with different concentrations of IBA and NAA (1500, 3000, 4500 ppm) while a part of cuttings were untreated control. In general, a significantly higher percentage of rooting was found among cuttings taken on February 15 th when rooting reached up to 67.5% compared to the cuttings taken one month later where rooting resulted with 45%. Whilst regarding growth regulators the most important differences were found in (p<0.05) among different concentrations. Key words: Vaccinium corymbosum L., hard wood cuttings, IBA, NAA, rooting, substrate, turfperlite Introduction The highbush blueberry is a plant of fresh continental climate. Blueberries are cultivated in North America, the Netherlands, Poland and more recently also in Kosovo. Light soils, well-aerated, with optimal amounts of moisture, rich with organic matter and ph from 4.3-4.8 are suitable for the cultivation of highbush blueberry (Mišić and Nikolić, 2003). Organic matter helps the root system of the blueberry which is very sensitive by preventing unexpected changes of the ph value, moisture and soil temperature. The rooting ability is a feature which changes during different stages of plant development (Rama, 2013). Cuttings taken from horizontal branches have better rooting abilities. Long branches are used to prepare many cuttings, yet, the cuttings taken from the branch-base root easier since the branch-base collects more various substances which favour rooting (auxin, phenolic substances, carbohydrates etc. (Rama, 2013). An important role regarding what makes the nutritional substances available in the soil belongs to the ph value which has an impact on the absorption and exchange of ions (Sugiyama and Hanawa, 1992). The blueberry plant absorbs + the nitrogen from the soil mainly in the form of ammoniacial-nh 4 (Peterson et al, 1988) thus the ratio between ammoniacial nitrogen and nitrate nitrogen NO 3- is very important and influences the blueberry development. The best way of vegetative propagation is the one with hard wood cuttings. The high concentrations of auxin may contribute to the rooting of the base part of the cutting (Hartmann et al.2002) while IBA is proven to be more effective in rooting of cuttings comparing to NAA (Fogaca and Fet-Neto, 2005; Litwinczuk and Wadas 2008). Proceedings. 51 st Croatian and 11 th International Symposium on Agriculture. Opatija. Croatia (427-431) Section 9. Pomology 427
Sabri BRAHA, Petrit RAMA Material and methods The propagation material used were one-year old branches, well-lignified, without fruit buds which were taken and set in two dates, February 15 th and March 15 th of 2015, at the end of the latent period at the end of winter before the bud swelling. Branches from 6 to 12 mm thick were cut in cuttings of 15 cm length, several mm over the upper bud and several mm under the lower bud. Cuttings were left to stay for 15 minutes until they absorb well IBA and NAA (1500, 3000, 4500 ppm), and after drying are powdered at their base with Captan fungicide mixed with talk (at a ratio 1:10)-against decomposing- at their base). Later on they are placed in boxes for rooting in distance 10 x 5 cm, in depth around ½ of the cutting length leaving at least two buds over the substrate were they have stayed for eight weeks. The experiment was placed in four boxes per substrate, each containing four repetitions of 40 cuttings. Boxes are filled with turf-only and turf-perlite at a ratio 2:1 to the depth of 25 cm. The rooting of cuttings was achieved with base heating where the substrate temperature in the base part of the cutting during the day was 21 C whilst during the night temperature was 15-16 C. and the air temperature in the terminal part of the cuttings was lower for 4 c. The boxes filled with substrate for rooting of wood cuttings are placed in a glass greenhouse where the relative air humidity is 75-80 %. Results and discussion The data from figures 1, 2, 3 and 4 show that the wood cuttings rooting ability strongly depends on the time period when they are taken. This is related to the physiologic condition and nutritional condition of the cuttings related to the seasonal period and plant development stage. The presence of various hormonal and other substances changes over the year (auxin, phenolic substances, carbohydrates etc) (Rama, 2013). In general, the rooting percentage of wood cuttings in the turf-only substrate taken on February 15 th reaches up to 55% compared to the cuttings placed on March 15 th (the same substrate - turf), where rooting reaches to 40% in the case of IBA 3000 ppm. The rooting the wood cuttings in the turf-perlite substrate taken on February 15 th is higher and reaches up to 67.5 % compared to the cuttings taken on March 15 th where rooting reaches up to 52.5 % in the case of IBA 3000 ppm in the same turf-perlite substrate (since the presence of perlite helps in aerating the substrate and in inducing the roots bearing in mind that all processes of root formation are aerobe processes). This difference (15%), in the rooting of the same cuttings is related to the interaction between the time period hormonal equilibrium and the effect of IBA and NAA. Indol Butyric Acid (IBA) in all concentrations prove to be more efficient in inducing adventive roots among wood cuttings in comparison to Naphthalene Acetic Acid (NAA). Regarding the concentration, the one of 3000 ppm shown to be best in rooting of cuttings bearing in mind that the concentrations of auxins over 3000 ppm may prevent the blooming of cutting buds and contribute to the decomposition of the cutting base part (Hartmann et al.1990). Figure 1. Rooting percentage of wood cuttings Figure 2. Rooting percentage of wood in turf substrate (Cutings taken February 15 th ) cuttings in turf- perlite substrate (Cutings taken February 15 th ) 428 51 st Croatian and 11 th International Symposium on Agriculture
Interaction between the time when taking hard wood cuttings and Indol Butyric Acid and Naphthalene Figure 3. Rooting percentage of wood cuttings in substrate turf (Cutings taken March 15 th ) Figure 4. Rooting percentage of wood cuttings in turf- perlite substrate (Cutings taken March 15 th ) Table1. Data averages for hard wood cuttings by repetition Factor A Substrate Factor B Growth regulators Factor C Concentration Average Turf Turf-Perlite IBA NAA IBA NAA Control 1.00 1500 ppm 3.75 3000 ppm 5.50 4500 ppm 4.25 Control 0.75 1500 ppm 3.25 3000 ppm 4.50 4500 ppm 3.50 Control 1.25 1500ppm 4.75 3000 ppm 6.75 4500 ppm 4.50 Control 1.00 1500 ppm 3.75 3000 ppm 5.25 4500 ppm 4.00 The statistical analysis ANOVA shows that there are high significant differences in the percentage of treatment rooting (treated wood cuttings) compared to the control (untreated cuttings), as well as at the time of taking the cuttings at the reliability level (P=0.05). The concentration effects of growth regulators for IBA at 3000 ppm were important when compared to the control. At the treatments with IBA and NAA in the concentrations 1500 and 4500 ppm there were no significant differences except in few cases. And regarding the turf substrate and turf-perlite 2:1, there are significant differences among cuttings taken at the same time (in favour of substrate turf-perlite 2:1). With the increase of concentrations during treatment with IBA and NAA from 1500 to 3000 ppm the ratio of rooting of wood cuttings is increased, followed by a decline of the ratio in treatments with concentrations over 3000 ppm. In all concentrations as well as in both types of substrate IBA 3000 ppm it results with a higher percentage in the rooting of wood cuttings. Section 9. Pomology 429
Sabri BRAHA, Petrit RAMA Table 2. The influence of the substrate and the concentration of IBA and NAA in inducing of the adventive roots Factor A - Substrate Factor B Factor C Average Average Turf Turf-Perlite Growth regulators Concentration (AB) (A) 1.00 1.25 control - 1.13 1.00** 0.75 1.00 control - 0.88 0.88 1.13 3.75 4.75 IBA 1500 ppm 4.25 3.87* 3.25 3.75 NAA 1500 ppm 3.50 3.50 4.25 5.50 6.75* IBA 3000 ppm 6.12 5.49** 4.50 5.25 NAA 3000 ppm 4.87 4.87 6.12 4.25 4.50 IBA 4500 ppm 4.37 4.06* 3.50 4.00 NAA 4500 ppm 3.75 3.87 4.25 Average C 3.08 3.83 Average BC Average B 1.00 3.87** 2.43** 5.49* 4.06 4.77** A** B* C* AB AC BC ABC LSD 1 % 1.51 0.73 0.70 1.90 1.84 1.13 3.57 LSD 5 % 1.09 0.55 0.53 1.30 1.26 0.82 2.15 Conclusions The time of taking the cuttings is of crucial importance for successful rooting (including the set date) since in different time periods the presence of various hormonal substances also changes as well as the nutritional substances which favour rooting. The turf-perlite (2:1) substrate is more favourable for the rooting of wood cuttings. Indol Butyric Acid (IBA) seems to have better results in rooting regardless of concentration comparing to Naphthalene Acetic Acid (NAA), whilst the best results were obtained with concentration of 3000 ppm. References Fogaca C.M., Fett-Neto A.G. (2005). Role of auxin and its modulators in the adventitious rooting of Eucalyptus species differing in recalcitrance, Plant Growth Regul, Vol.45; pp.1-10. Hartmann H.T., Kester D.E., Davies F.T., Geneve R.L. (2002). Plant Propagation Principles and Practices. 7 th Edition. Prentice Hall. New Jersey, pp. 367-374. Hartmann H.T., Kester D.E., Davies F.T. (1990). Plant Propagation: Principles and Practices. 5th ed. Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, N.J. Litwinczuk W., Wadas M. (2008). Auxin-dependent development and habituation of highbush blueberry (Vaccinium covilleanum But. et Pl.) 'Herbert' in vitro shoot cultures. Scientia Horticulturae, 119 (1): 41-48. Mišić P., Nikolić M. (2003). Jagodaste voćke. IIPS. Beograd. Peterson, L. A., Stang, E. J., Dana, M.N. (1988). Blueberry response to NH 4 -N and NO 3 -N. Journal of the American society for horticultural science, 112:612-616. 430 51 st Croatian and 11 th International Symposium on Agriculture
Interaction between the time when taking hard wood cuttings and Indol Butyric Acid and Naphthalene Rama P. (2013). Multiplication of horticultural plants. Agricultural University of Tirana. Tiranë. pp. 47-106. Sugiyama N., Hanawa S. (1992). Growth responses of rabbiteye blueberry plants to N forms at constant ph in solution culture. J. Jpn. Soc. Hort. Sci. 61:25 29. sa2016_p0903 Section 9. Pomology 431