Effect of rooting hormone and media on root induction in poinsettia (Euphorbia pulcherrima Willd.)

An experiment was carried out to study the effect of different concentrations of IBA and rooting media on root induction of poinsettia (Euphorbia pulcherrima Willd). The experiment was laid out in factorial Completely Randomized Design (FCRD) with sixteen treatment combinations consisting four levels of IBA and four different types of media. Among the various levels of IBA, 4000 ppm IBA (C₃) was most effective for obtaining number of sprouts per cutting (2.29), number of roots per cutting (16.42), length of shoot (6.85 cm), length of root (20.25 cm), number of leaves per cutting (14), fresh weight of root (1.56 g), fresh weight of shoot (11.98 g), dry weight of shoot (5.13 g), rooting percentage (76.40%) and survival percentage (74.19%) of rooted cuttings after 60 days of planting. Consequently, Red soil + Cocopeat (M₄) media was found most promising for finding number of sprouts per cutting (3.30), number of roots per cutting (16.30), length of shoot (7.86 cm), length of root (23.02 cm), number of leaves per cutting (14.96), fresh weight of root (1.72 g), fresh weight of shoot (12.52 g), dry weight of shoot (5.49 g), rooting percentage (86.84%) and survival percentage (85.83%) for rooted cuttings after 60 days of planting. Cuttings planted in sand exhibited early sprouting as compared to other media. Interaction effect of different levels of IBA and rooting media was found non significant for all the characters.