Adventitious rooting on softwood cuttings of Prunus spp.

Abstract

The facility of vegetative propagation by softwood cuttings is one of the most desired characteristics on selection process of Prunus spp. rootstocks better adapted to the soil and climate conditions of Rio Grande do Sul State, Brazil. The aim of present research was to evaluate the technical viability of propagation by softwood cuttings of 17 rootstock selections for peach [Prunus persica (L.) Batsch] under intermittent mist system, including three cultivars as reference (Capdeboscq, Okinawa e Sharpe). The propagation by softwood cuttings shows viable for all 17 clonal rootstock selections tested, being that no one selection can be discarded in following steps of evaluation. There is variability among rootstock selections in respect to rhizogenesis, being that some selections were similar or better than reference’s cultivars. The best selections were GKM-ELD-10-77 and EF-SAU-10-83 (root number per cutting), EF-SAU-10-82 and EF-SAU-10-85 (live rooted cuttings) and VS-ELD-10-60, DF-GRA-10-64, GKM-ELD-10-69 and EF-SAU-10-79 (suitable rooted cuttings to transplant).