EFFECT OF INDOLE BUTYRIC ACID (IBA) ON GINKGO BILOBA L. CUTTINGS BY USING QARSHI NUTRI COMPOST AT QARSHI BOTANICAL GARDEN HATTAR, HARIPUR KPK, PAKISTAN

Abstract

The effect of Indole butaric acid (IBA) on vegetative propagation of Ginkgo biloba stem cutting was studied under climatic conditions of district Haripur. The propagation of this plant species is very important to reduce the threats to its extinction, because it’s the only living fossil in the world. Herein, we investigated the effect of IBA on the different types of stem cuttings of Ginkgo biloba at various hormonal concentrations. Three types of cuttings were used in the study viz, soft wood, hardwood and semi hard wood. Cuttings were grouped as semi-hardwood (current season’s growth but fairly matured), hardwood (more than a year old) and softwood (tender growing stems) based on their physiological ages. Three different treatments (T1, T2, T3) of IBA, (300 µM, 600 µM and 900 µM) was applied to each cutting. For each type of cutting one control group was used for comparing the treatment response on root and shooting parameter. In the month of January, the minimum low temperature was recorded as 5˚C. Similarly, in June the high temperature was recorded as 36˚C. Similarly, the minimum humidity (33.4 %) was recorded for the month of June whereas; maximum 65.7% humidity was recorded for the month of February, 2018. Semi hardwood cutting took less time (17 days) in sprouting at 600 µM concentrations of IBA and 18 days at 900 µM. The data shows that 600 µM IBA was best for the performance of morphological parameter of shoot followed by 900 µM concentrations. It was observed that significant results in root development and morphogenesis of shoot parameter in all type of cuttings. It was recorded that increasing the concentration of IBA from 300 µM to 600 µM, the rooting efficiency and subsequent morphological parameters of the shoot significantly increases, however, increasing the concentration further up to 900 µM. We found no major difference in the efficiency of rooting and morphological parameters of the shoot. Furthermore, it was noticed that in semi hardwood cutting, IBA at 600 µM show high rooting efficiency as compared to hardwood and softwood cuttings. VIII Overall, the result of this investigation shows that semi hardwood cutting are efficient for the propagation of this plant and commercial exploitation.