Agricultural Research Management Information System

Home
Research Summary
Search
About Us
- ARMIS
- Brochure
Contact Us
Report
User Request
Data Input
Help
- Operation Manual
  - PDF
  - Video
- Program Area & Commodity
We have reached 37600 number of research entries at this moment.

- Logout

Research Detail

Home
Research
Detail

Rooting Ability of Atrocarpus Heterophyllus Stem Cuttings as Influenced by Growth Light Conditions and Shade Manipulation for Mass Propagation

Md. Aktar Hossain
Institute of Forestry and Environmental Sciences, Chittagong University, Chittagong- 4331.

Abstract/ Executive Summary:

The study describes the effect of growth light conditions of stock plants on growth and morphology of shoots and rooting ability of cuttings and different levels of shade on shoot production, growth, morphology and rooting ability of shoots developed from decapitated ground layered stock plants. Containerized stock plants of jackfruit (Atrocarpus heterophyllus Lam.) were grown under three different levels of growth light: full sun (R: FR 1.25), partial shade (R: FR 1, 60% of full sun) and deep shade (R: FR 0.39, 3% of full sun) for 45 days. Then some of the stock plants growing in partial shade or deep shade were transferred to full sun for another 15 days and growth and morphology of shoots and rooting ability of cuttings were investigated. To explore the effect of shade levels, two years old stock plants of jackfruit were decapitated at the tip and layered on ground. Shoots were allowed to develop at three shade levels: vegetational shade (75% of full sun), lateral shade (40% of full sun) and overhead shade (10% of full sun). The bud activity, shoot productivity, growth and morphology of shoots and rooting ability of cuttings from the shoots grown under various levels of shade were studied. Shoots growth and morphology as well as the rooting ability of jackfruit cuttings were significantly affected by growth light conditions of stock plants. Internode number was significantly fewer in deep shade but internode length, leaf area and specific leaf area were higher in deep shade and deep shade to full sun regime. Leaf weight per unit leaf area was decreased gradually when sun-grown stock plants were transferred to deep shade or partial shade and regained when return from the shade to full sun. Highest rooting percentage (100%) was found in cuttings of deep shade to full sun regime and lowest (67%) in full sun without IBA treatment. Number of roots and root dry mass per cutting was highest in cuttings of deep shade to full sun treated without IBA. Different levels of shade also significantly affected the bud activity and shoot productivity of stock plants. Early bud initiation was observed in stock plants under overhead shade while maximum number of bud sprouted in vegetational shade. However, active bud percentage was significantly higher in lateral shade for the species. Rooting percentage of cuttings and root lengths were not significantly affected due to shade levels of stock plants since it was in between 80 and 90 across the shade levels. Mean root number and mean root dry mass were remarkably higher in cuttings from lateral shade for the species. The results of the study were discussed in context of cutting yield for mass clonal propagation and need for manipulation of growth light environment for shoot production.

Keywords: Rooting ability, Growth, Jackfruit, Mass propagation

Location: Chittagong University, Bangladesh.

Start Date:

End Date:

Program Area: Variety and Species

Commodity: Jackfruit

Objectives:

1. To study the effects of growth light environment of stock plants on growth of shoots and rooting ability of cuttings of jackfruit.

2. To develop a suitable protocol for mass propagation of the species without applying growth regulators for rooting was mistgated.

Methodology:

The study was conducted in the nursery of Chittagong University. The area enjoys typically tropical monsoon, characterized by hot humid summer and cool dry winter with mean monthly temperature variation from 21.8°C to 29.2°C maximum and from 15°C to 26°C minimum. Relative humidity is minimum (64%) in February and maximum (95%) in June to September. Mean annual rainfall of the area is about 300 cm, which mostly takes place between June and September. The day length varies from 10 hours 45 minutes in December to 13 hours 25 minutes in June. The research work was carried out comprising two different experiments. In the first experiment the effects of growth light conditions during shoot development in stock plants on rooting ability of cuttings was examined. In the second one, the shoot production ability of stock plants by decapitating and ground layering under a range of different levels of shade and their rooting ability without growth regulator was examined. To determine the effects of growth light condition of the stock plants on growth and morphology of shoots and rooting ability of cuttings seedlings were raised from seeds collected from the phenotypically superior tree which produced fruits round the year. The seedlings were grown in polythene pots (15 cm x 10 cm in size) filled with coconut husk mixed with forest soils (usually moderately coarse to fine textured sandy loam soil) with acetic pH (5.5) and decomposed cowdung 2:1:1 by volume in full sun. At the age of 45 days the stock plants were placed in three different light regimes: full sun, partial shade and deep shade. To assess the effects of growth light condition of the stock plants on growth and morphology of shoots, fifteen individual shoots from each of the five light regimes, full sun (FS), partial shade to full sun (PS- FS), partial shad (PS), deep shade to full sun (DS-FS), and deep shade (DS) were taken for morphological study. In the morphological study, the number of nodes, length and diameter of internodes and leaf area were assessed. Leaf area was measured by Dot-gird method. Internode with fully developed leaf at the upper part of the shoot was taken as the first cutting and as such the tip of the shoot was not included in the measurement since it usually fails to root. Diameter was measured at the mid-point of the internode. The internode and leaf samples were dried in electrical oven at 70°C for 48 hours for dry weight assessment. Single node cuttings of shoots with one leaf trimmed to half were used for rooting trial to determine the effects of growth light condition of stock plants on rooting ability of cuttings. Sixty cuttings from each light regime (FS, PS, PS-FS, DS, DS-FS) a total 300 cuttings were made from five light regimes. However in case of exploring the effect of various levels of shade of stock plants on rooting ability of cuttings, ninety single node cuttings of shoots with one full leaf were taken from each shade regime (overhead shade, lateral shade, vegetative shade) for rooting trial. Thus the number of cuttings per replicate was 30 and number of replication per light regime was 3. About 85-90% humidity was maintained within the propagator. Every day the propagator was opened briefly in the morning and in the late afternoon to facilitate gas diffusion. The propagator was kept under bamboo made shed to avoid excessive heat accumulation. Further shading was achieved by putting jute mat over the roof of the shed. In this way, photosynthetic photon flux inside the propagator was reduced to about 12% full sun by the overhead shade. During the rooting trial, the mean maximum temperature was 35°C and the mean minimum temperature 25°C. The cuttings rooted six weeks after setting into the propagator. The cuttings were subjected to weaning before transferring from the propagator. For weaning the cuttings, the propagator was kept open at night for three days and night for another three days. Rooting percentage and the number of root per cutting was recorded seven weeks after setting the cuttings into the propagator. Roots of each cutting were separated and dried in oven at 70°C for 48 hours for dry weight assessment. The leaves and internodes were also dried in the oven. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Duncan Multiple Range Test (DMRT) were performed to explore the possible difference among the treatments. Rooting percentage values were transferred into arc sign Root Square before putting the data for analysis of variance. Each experiment was repeated at least three times to confirm the reproducibility of the methods.

Source of Information: Proceedings of The National Workshop on Jackfruits Problem, Prospects, Research Activities and Development in Bangladesh, March 2011. Forestry Unit, Natural Resources Management Division, Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council, Dhaka-1215, Bangladesh. pp: 19-36.

Article Link (Online Journal):

Funding Source:

Budget:

Total Budget (Tk.) :

Achievement/Findings:

Growth light conditions of stock plants significantly enhanced the growth and morphology of shoots and rooting ability of cuttings. Partial shade regime produced higher growth with maximum number of internode per shoot compared to full sun or deep shade regime. Deep shade regime produced longer internodes allowing the use of mostly one-node cuttings. The highest rooting percentage (100), maximum number of root and root dry weight per cutting was found in deep shade to full sun regime without IBA treatment. Therefore, considering the internode length, rooting ability in terms of rooting percentage, mean root number and mean root dry weight, stock plants preconditioning by deep shade to full sun was the best for rooting ability in the cuttings. This might be one of the important alternatives for achieving adequate rooting of cuttings without applying the complex procedure of costly IBA solution in treatments. However, the internal biochemical change in shoots of stock plants that enhanced the rooting ability of cuttings due to different light conditions was not explored in this study due to some limitations which might be one of the important areas of future study. In the present study, early bud initiation was noticed in overhead shade but active bud percentage and maximum number of shoots were developed in lateral shade regime. Again, though the stock plants of vegetational shade produced higher number of node per shoot, stock plants of lateral shade exposed to direct sun light during mid-day produced longer internodes than vegetational shade allowing use of mostly one-node cuttings. In this context cutting yield was more in lateral shade. At the same time cuttings from lateral shade regime rooted well in terms of rooting percentages, mean root number and root dry mass. Considering all these variables, stock plants preconditioning to lateral shade for rooting ability of cuttings may be recommended. However it was not possible to determine the biochemical changes that might occur in shoots of stock plants developed under different levels of shade that influenced the rooting ability of cuttings. This might be an important area for future study.

Knowledge Management: Report/Proceedings