Studies on the effect of some pre-conditioning treatments, IBA and collection time on the success of semi-hardwood cuttings in kiwifruit

Abstract

A field trial was undertaken to study the effect of pre-conditioning treatments, IBA and collection time on the rooting of kiwifruit semi-hardwood cuttings. The experiment comprised of various treatments, viz., Blanching, girdling, IBA @ 5000 ppm, blanching + girdling, blanching + IBA @ 5000 ppm, girdling + IBA @ 5000 ppm, blanching + girdling + IBA @ 5000 ppm. In order to standardize the time of cuttings, these were treated at three times at monthly interval starting from mid May and was subjected to above treatments. The treatment of blanching plus girdling plus IBA @ 5000 ppm improved significantly the percent rooted cuttings (69.4%) of semi-hardwood cuttings of kiwifruit. Furthermore, root characteristics and survival percentage (70.2%) were also recorded maximum with this treatment. The best collection time of semi-hardwood cuttings in kiwifruit was found to be mid July followed by mid August.