Rooting dynamics of Prunus minicuttings

Abstract

There is a lot of information on the peach tree culture. However, it still lacks an efficient system for the seedlings production that guarantees genetic and sanitary quality, resulting in high productivity. The objective of this study was to determine the optimum rooting time for Prunus minicuttings to obtain clonal rootstocks. The installation of an experiment happened to check the viability of propagation by herbaceous minicuttings of the rootstocks, using Flordaguard, Okinawa, and the Capdeboscq canopy cultivar on different evaluation days (20, 30, 40, 50, and 60 days). Each treatment consisted of four replications of 20 minicuttings. The experiment consisted of preparing herbaceous minicuttings of approximately three to five centimeters, containing two buds and a leaf cut in half, with a bevel cut at the apex and transverse at the base of the mini-pile and two superficial lesions on opposite sides of the base. Later, they were immersed in a solution of 2000mg L-1 of indolebutyric acid (IBA) for 10 seconds and placed in transparent plastic containers containing medium-granulated vermiculite, previously moistened. Afterward, they were placed in greenhouses under controlled temperature. At 50 days, the highest percentage of rooting observed in the cultivar was Flordaguard (70%). The other cultivars resulted in a lower percentage of rooting on different evaluation days.