Rooting ability of Olive genotypes softwood cuttings under various rooting media

Abstract

Olea europaea is the most imperative high quality oil-producing fruit tree in the Mediterranean region and propagated through cuttings. This tree has shown good rooting ability in European countries. However, in Pakistan, propagation of olive through softwood cuttings showed moderate or even poor rooting performance due to the utilization of inappropriate rooting media. The objective of the research work was to determine the rooting ability of olive cuttings under most suitable media. For this purpose, five different growing media were used against two olive Genotypes Coratina & Frantoio at Agriculture Research Institute, Tarnab, Peshawar. Growing media consist of sand, silt, sawdust, perlite, and a mixture of (sand, silt & garden soil respectively 1:1:1). The data of morphological parameters like days to rooting, number of sprouted cuttings, number of rooted cuttings, root length and successful plant percentage was recorded. It was explicable from noted data that sand media took minimum number of days (115, 118) for rooting in both cultivars Coratina & Frantoio respectively. Maximum sprouted cuttings (90, 85) were observed in sand media for both the cultivars Coratina & Frantoio respectively. Maximum rooted cuttings (38, 41) were noted for both cultivars Frantoio & Coratina respectively again in sand media whereas maximum root length (8.6cm, 9.8cm,) for both the genotypes Coratina & Frantoio was recorded in compost. Considering media, Sand produced the best result regarding observed parameters overall whereas while considering genotype, Coratina as compare to Frantoio, performs better under subjected media in routing ability and other observed parameters.