EFFECT OF BASAL APPLICATIONS OF NAPHTHALENE ACETIC ACID (NAA) ON SPROUTING AND ROOTING POTENTIAL OF STEM CUTTINGS OF BOUGAINVILLEA (BOUGAINVILLEA GLABRA)

Bougainvillea is a beautiful ornamental climbing plant of tropical and subtropical regions of the world. An experiment was conducted to assess the effect of basal methods of Naphthalene acetic acid (NAA) application on sprouting and rooting potential of stem cuttings of bougainvillea. The stem cuttings of about 6 inches in length were obtained from two year old plants. The basal ends of the cuttings were treated with Naphthalene acetic acid (NAA) using basal methods of auxin application including basal quick dip method for 10 seconds and basal long soak method for 12 hours in NAA solutions viz. 2000 and 4000 mg L-1 plus control treatment with no NAA. Two groups were set, one group was covered with polyethylene and another left opened. The better response for mean number of sprouts (5.22) per stem cutting, sprouting percentage (67.8), rooting percentage (67.28), number of roots (20.83), fresh weight of the roots (44.47 mg) and number of leaves (27.33) was observed in response to the treatment where basal long soak method of NAA application was followed at 4000 mg L-1. Chlorophyll content of leaf and electrolyte leakage of leaf was not significantly influenced by any basal method of NAA application under both uncovered and covered conditions. The covered stem cuttings exhibited more pronouncing and significant response for most of the plant traits in comparison to untreated and uncovered cuttings. The maximum sprouts per stem cutting (5.61), sprouting percentage (78.62), rooting percentage (73.33), number of roots (21.87), fresh weight of the roots (47.43 mg) and number of leaves (28.81) were recorded from covered stem cuttings.The minimum mortality percentage (14.66) was observed from covered stem cuttings.