Propagation of Okinawa Peach Rootstock Using Semi Hard-Wood Cutting

 THE investigation was conducted during the two successive seasons (2011 & 2012) on semi hard-wood cuttings from 6 years old Okinawa peach rootstock trees grown in a private orchard at El-Monofia governorate. Cuttings were collected at ten dates each two weeks started from first October till mid February. Cuttings were dipped for 5 seconds in 1000 or 2000 ppm indole butric acid (IBA) in addition to untreated cuttings (control).
Results showed that timing of the IBA treatments of cuttings had significantly affected on roots number and length and number of leaves of Okinawa peach cuttings in both seasons. It was found that IBA dipping at 15-November recorded the highest values of root length followed in a descending order by cuttings dipping at 1-November, whereas, the lowest values were obtained from dipping of cuttings at 15-February in both seasons. As for the concentration of IBA, it was found that dipping of cuttings with 2000 ppm IBA significantly recorded the highest number and length of roots and number of leaves followed, in a descending order, by dipping of cuttings with 1000 ppm whereas, the lowest values were obtained from untreated cuttings in the both seasons. A significant interaction was observed between timing of the IBA dipping of cuttings and concentration of IBA, the results show that dipping of cuttings with 2000 ppm IBA at 15-November recorded the highest values of on number and length of roots and number of leaves, whereas, the lowest values were obtained from the control at 15-February in both seasons.