STUDY ON ROOTING OF KIWIFRUIT CULTIVARS (Actinidia chinensis) IN DIFFERENT SUBSTRATES AND ROOTING HORMONES

Seyed-Mohsen MIRI-NARGESI, Shahram SEDAGHATHOOR*
Department of Horticulture, Rasht branch, Islamic Azad University, Rasht, Iran.

Kiwifruit genus (Actinidia) includes twenty different species. One of the best methods of kiwifruit propagation is the use of hardwood and semi- hardwood cuttings using rooting hormone. The effect of substrate and concentration of indole butyric acid (IBA) and naphthalene acetic acid (NAA) on rooting of kiwifruit cuttings was investigated under greenhouse conditions in a factorial study (4×3×3) with three factors and three replications. The first factor was rooting substrate at three levels (a1: sand, a2: sand + perlite and a3: sand + azocompost (1:1)), the second factor was kiwifruit cultivar including Hayward (b1), Mateua (b2), and Bruno (b3), and the third factor included water (c1), IBA 4000 mg/l (c2), NAA 2000 mg/l (c3), and IBA 2000 + NAA 2000 (c4). Trait measurement of each cutting included callus percentage, callus dry and fresh weight, root length, the length of the longest root, rooting percentage, roots dry and fresh weight, the number of roots and the diameter of roots. It was found that the application of IBA 4000 mg/l had the greatest impact on increasing callus percentage and the length of the longest root. The maximum diameter of roots was obtained under sand × Mateua× NAA2000 mg/l and sand + perlite was found to be the most suitable substrate for rooting of kiwifruit cuttings.

KEY WORDS: rooting substrate, IBA, NAA, Actinidia chinensis

South Western Journal of Horticulture, Biology and Environment, Vol.6 , No.1, 2015, pp. 33-42.