Abstract

Present study deals with the effect of different concentrations of IBA on rooting behaviour of Jatropha curcas L. stem cuttings in different seasons. The study was carried out in Western Himalayan region in Uttarakhand, India during 2005-2006 in spring, monsoon and winter season.  The juvenile and mature cuttings of J. curcaswere treated with different concentration of IBA (0, 500, 1000, 1500, 2000 and 2500 ppm) for 12 h and rooting behaviour was observed 60 days after planting. Juvenile and mature cuttings treated with IBA at1500 and 2000 ppm respectively showed highest rooting response. The sprouting in juvenile cuttings varied from 34.2% in winter to 100.0% in monsoon season while the mature cutting varied from 24.6% in winter to 64.3% in monsoon season. The rooting % in juvenile cuttings varied from 24.1% in winter to 90.5% in monsoon and the mature cutting from 21.7% in winter to 60.8% in monsoon.  The IBA treated juvenile cuttings showed the rooting behaviour in the order: 1500ppm > 2000 ppm > 1000 ppm > 500 ppm > 2500 ppm > control and the IBA treated mature cuttings showed the order: 2000 ppm > 1500 ppm > 1000 ppm> 2500 ppm > 500 ppm >control.

Key words: Juvenile cutting, mature cutting, indole-3-butyric acid (IBA), sprouting percentage, rooting percentage, number of roots, root length.