Investigate the Growth Responses of Rooting and Shooting Performance of Populus alba Cuttings Grown in Hydroponic and Soil Cultures Environments

Abstract

Populus spp (poplars) are fast growing multipurpose trees. They have immense potential to benefit mankind and to protect the environment. In order to investigate the effects of biochar, Azolla and moss as components of growth media on root formation and shooting performance in mini cuttings of populace, an experiment was conducted using plastic bottles in a greenhouse in hydroponic and soil media. The experiment was established on three different rooting media: sand, water and soil enriched with three concentrations (0gm, 10gm and 25gm per L of the amendments; (biochar Azolla and moss), with randomized block design, each block containing three replicates. The cutting length, cutting thickness and ages of cuttings were used to see root establishments. The data revealed significant effect of different amendments and rooting media on the populus establishment. The rooted mini-cuttings were assessed for rooting percent; number of roots, root length, number of leaves and shoots height as well. In the study finding among all the amendments and rooting media, moss (25 gm L-1) showed better results with water in terms of rooting percent (100%), number of roots (16.33), root length (19.83cm) and number of leaves (45.33) per rooted mini-cuttings. The formation of healthy plants after hardening under outdoor conditions showed that populus alba could be successfully propagated by mini-cutting techniques.