Rooting of softwood cuttings of four genotypes of kiwifruit submitted to Indolbutyric Acid treatment

Abstract

Cutting is an alternative kiwifruit propagation, to obtain rootstocks or to directly root its. As a clonal propagation method, there is no loss of desirable agronomic characteristics. This study was carried out to evaluate the rooting of softwood cuttings of kiwifruit ‘Bruno’, ‘Elmwood’ and ‘Matua’ (Actinidia deliciosa) and ‘MG06’ (Actinidia chinensis) submitted to indolebutyric acid (IBA) treatment. The cuttings were immersed, at their base, in concentrations 0, 1000, 2000, 4000, 6000 and 8000 mgL-1 of IBA. After 90 days, the following variables were evaluate: percentage of rooted cuttings, callus and leaf retention per cutting; average length of the three largest roots; average number of roots and root dry matter mass. The rooting of ‘MG06’ is higher than ‘Elmwood’ and ‘Matua’, not differing from ‘Bruno’. ‘Matua’ presented the lowest rooting. The AIB increases the rooting percentage, and with an estimated concentration of 4,640 mgL-1, it, can obtain 48.9% of rooted cuttings.