Effect of IBA formulations, provenances on growth parameters and physiological attributes of Morus indica under nursery conditions in Himachal Pradesh

The growth behaviour and physiological attributes response of four provenances of Morus indica were studied under the effect of growth regulator (IBA). The collection was made from Nauni, Hamirpur, Dhaulakuan and Jachh of H. P. The growth parameters studied were: Number of leaves and number of branches per plant, leaf fresh weight and average leaf area under nursery stage. Significant variations in almost all parameters were recorded among the different IBA formulations, provenances and diameter classes. The control treatment (T₁) performed the best for all the growth behaviour parameters and physiological attributes studied. The provenance Jacch (P₃) showed overall best response of number of leaves per plant with 40.73 and average leaf area (61.42 cm²). Diameter class D₃ (Cuttings having diameter greater than 1.25 cm) exhibited significantly better performance in respect of growth behaviour and physiological attributes. Nauni provenances exhibited better values for all the physiological attributes with photosynthetic rate (2.46 μ mol/m²/s), transpiration rate (1.03 m mol/m²/s) and water use efficiency (2.38).