Propagation of Ornamental Plants
12(3): 171-177, 2012
PROPAGATION OF ARTEMISIA ARBORESCENS L. BY STEM-CUTTING: ADVENTITIOUS ROOT FORMATION UNDER DIFFERENT CONDITIONS
Giancarlo Fascella1*, Marcello Militello2, and Alessandra Carrubba2
1Agricultural Research Council, Research Unit for Mediterranean Flower Species, 90011 Bagheria (Palermo), Italy, *Fax: + 39091909089, *E-mail: fascella@libero.it 2 Department of Crop Environmental Systems, University of Palermo, 90128 Palermo, Italy.
Artemisia arborescens L. has gained a strong importance worldwide due to its many industrial uses and it has been recently considered as ornamental plant. A major constraint to its widespread cultivation is represented, by far, by the scarce availability of high-quality plant material for field establishment; hence, development of a fast and effective methods for its vegetative propagation is needed. An experiment was conducted to assess the effects of different harvest periods, NAA, and rooting substrates on rooting of stem cuttings of A. arborescens. Semi hardwood cuttings were collected from wild plants in February, April, and November. Half of the material was treated with 0.4% NAA and placed on different mixtures of sphagnum peat and perlite (2 : 1, 1 : 1, and 1 : 2 v/v) under mist. After 40 days the percentage of rooted cuttings was significantly influenced by the harvest period as cuttings collected in February showed the highest rooting rate, and numerous alive but not rooted cuttings evidenced callus formation. In contrast, the use of different rooting substrates as well as NAA addition did not show any significant effect on rooting capacity. The best results, in terms of root number (4.2) and root length (8.8 cm), were achieved on cuttings grown in a 1 : 1 v/v sphagnum peat : perlite mixture, without NAA application.
Key words: harvest period, naphthalene acetic acid, rooting substrates, Tree wormwood.
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