EFFECT OF ROOTING HORMONE TREATMENTS ON PROPAGATION OF Actinidia sp. BY HARDWOOD CUTTINGS

Recently, kiwifruit consumption increased significantly, having in view its high nutritive and medicinal values. As consequence, the development and expansion of the kiwifruit industry has led to an increasing need for propagation material. The kiwifruit can be efficiently propagated under certain circumstances (proper substrate, hormonal rooting treatments) by hardwood cuttings, the most accessible methods for vegetative propagation for many horticultural crops. Our study presents the results of investigations on the effects of some rhizogene treatments (Radistim, naphtylacetic acid (NAA) 2000 ppm, beta-indolyl butyric acid (IBA) 2000 ppm and a mixture of NAA+IBA 1000 ppm) on root performance of hardwood cuttings for Actinidia deliciosa (AD20, Hayward, Katiuscia, Kramer, Tomuri) and Actinidia arguta (Francesca, Jumbo) species grown on a substrate composed from sand and perlite. It was developed a bifactorial experiment where "a" factor was kiwi cultivar/hybrid and "b" factor was the applied treatment represented by different rhizogene compounds. The efficiency of hardwood cutting under various hormonal rooting treatments was quantified by rooting percentage, number of formed roots, roots lengths (cm/cutting). The best rooting parameters were found when NAA+IBA 1000 ppm solution was used for Actinidia deliciosa (Hayward): rooting percentage was 73.1%, number of formed roots 17.2 and root length was evaluated as 19.3 cm/cutting.