Effect of Exogenous Plant Growth Regulators and Rejuvenation Measures on the Endogenous Hormone and Enzyme Activity Responses of Acer mono Maxim in Cuttage Rooting

Abstract

The cuttage rooting method for Acer species is difficult to achieve a good efficacy as trees maintain good characteristics at the rejuvenation stage, thus improving the rooting of Acer species. The addition of exogenous hormones and rejuvenation can improve the rooting effect of cuttings; however, the specific regulatory mechanism is still unclear. Here, Acer mono Maxim rejuvenation and non-rejuvenation cuttings were used as test subjects, to investigate the effects of exogenous hormones on the activities of endogenous hormones and antioxidant enzymes in the rooting process of young cuttings. The results showed that exogenous growth-regulating substances significantly improved the rooting rate of A. mono. Exogenous hormones naphthylacetic acid (NAA) + indolebutyric acid (IBA) increased the initial levels of the endogenous hormones, indoleacetic acid (IAA) and abscisic acid (ABA), and the enzyme activities of peroxidase (POD) and polyphenol oxidase (PPO). Rejuvenation treatment prolonged the time of increase in ABA content and indoleacetic acid oxidase (IAAO) activity at the root primordium induction stage, while increasing trans-zeatin riboside (ZR) content and decreasing POD enzyme activity in cuttings. These results demonstrate that A. mono cuttings can achieve the purpose of improving the rooting rate by adding the exogenous hormone (NAA + IBA), which is closely related to the changes of endogenous hormone content and enzyme activity, and these changes of A. mono rejuvenation cuttings are different from non-rejuvenation cuttings.