Effects of environmental conditions and indol butyric acid on the rooting of miniature rose varieties (Rosa spp.) cuttings

Abstract

Miniature roses are propagated by cuttings rooted directly in pots. The rooting deficiencies affect directly the final quality of pots that will go to the market. This study viewed to verify the effects of environmental conditions and of indol butyric acid (IBA) on the rooting of five miniature rose varieties, defined by the color of the flowers (pink, white, red, purple and lilac), in order to establish techniques to allow more well formed root systems. The experiments were carried out at Jaboticabal, State of São Paulo, Brazil, starting on November 6, 200 (spring), February 20, 2002 (summer), May 27, 2002 (autumn) and August 2, 2002 (winter). The experiment was conducted according to a completely random design in a 2x5 factorial arrangement (two seasons only, since during the autumn and winter no roots were formed, and five IBA concentrations: 0, 500, 000, 500 and 2000 mg kg-). The evaluations took place 20 days after the cutting, based on rooting percentage and number, length, and dry matter of roots. It was observed that rooting of miniature roses is season dependent: no rooting was verified in autumn or in winter; IBA was effective to increase the root percentage of the pinkflowered variety that reached 99% with 000 mg kg- of IBA, but it did not affect rooting (root percentage, number, length and dry matter of roots) of the other varieties.Additional keywords: cuttings; auxin.