Etiolation of stock plants for improved rooting of mango cuttings.
Castoriano M., Reuveni O.
Author Affiliation: Volcani Center, ARO, PO Box 6, Bet-Dagan 50250, Israel.
: 505-511
Abstract : Results of various pretreatments applied to stock plants for improving the subsequent rooting of cuttings are described. The best shoot development was achieved when container-grown stock plants were transferred to a dark room (20°C) 7-10 days after the following treatments: (1) branches and shoots were cut back, (2) axillary buds were smeared with a lanolin paste containing benzyladenine (500 mg/litre) and GA3 (100 mg/litre), and (3) transferral to dark treatment was conducted after bud swelling. In further experiments, 24 h before transferring back to 50% light, the basal section of the shoots was painted with a water-soluble PVA to which activated charcoal was added. Base-etiolated cuttings rooted faster and at a higher rate than the control, with more roots/cutting. In a difficult-to-root clone, 100% of base-etiolated cuttings rooted, compared with 4% of the control.