The Effect of Wounding, Indole Butyric Acid Levels, and Cutting Date on Rooting Ability of Ficus benghalensis

Abstract

The experiment was conducted in the plastic house of the Department of Horticulture and Gardening Engineering at College of Agriculture, Anbar University during the period from March to September 2019 to study the effect of wounding, levels of indole butyric acid, and date of cutting on the rotting ability of ficus. The experiment was carried out using complete randomized design (CRD) with a factorial experiment consisting of three factors; the first factor involved applying two levels of wounding (without wounding, two wounds at the base of the cutting); the second factor included the treatment of the cutting base with four levels of indole butyric acid (0, 1,500, 2,000, and 3,000 mg-liter-1), while the third factor was the date of cuttings (March and April). The results showed superiority of cutting during March on the percentage of rooting (99%), the number of days required for rooting (22 days), number of roots (89 per plant), a diameter of the roots (0.75 mm), and length of the roots (17.33 cm). Keywords: Ficus, Date of cutting, IBA, Wounding