Effect of growth regulators and potting media on morphological traits and rooting responses of salix cuttings under nursery condition

The study was conducted on "Effect of Growth Regulators and potting media on morphological traits and rooting responses of Salix alba under nursery condition" in the forest Nursery and Research Centre (School of Forestry and Environment) of Sam Higginbottom Institute of Agriculture Technology and Sciences, Allahabad. The cuttings were obtained from SHIATS, campus School with 20 cm length and without any branches andflowers. The experiment was laid out in Completely Randomized Design (CRD). In experiment 1, there were 13 treatments including control replicated three times in which several growth regulator control (distilled water), IBA (100,200,400ppm), NAA (100,200,400 ppm), GA₃ (100,200,400 ppm), 2, 4-D (100,200.400 ppm) were used with 10 cuttings per replication. Among the different treatments the most effective growth regulator was T2 (IBA 200 ppm) which gave better results with number of root, shoot length, root length, shoot fresh weight, root fresh weight, root dry weight, compared to control and other treatments, so it can be recommended that IBA as a most effective growth regulator among the all treatments. In experiment 2, there were 8 treatments with three replications and the combinations were control Soil, Soil:Sand 1:1, Soil: Sand:FYM 1:1:1, Soil:Neemcake: Vermicompost 1:1:1, Soil:FYM1:1, Soil:Sand: Vermicompost 1:1:1, Soil:FYM: Neemcake 1:1:1 and Soil: Sand:Neemcake. Among all potting media combinations most effective treatment was T1 (Soil: Sand:1:1) which shows better results in sprouts/cutting, survival percentage, diameter, shoot dry weight, root fresh weight, compared to control or other treatments so it can be recommended that the combination of (Soil: Sand: 1:1) as effective treatment for the growth of Salix cuttings. Among these 13 treatments, the treatment IBA with 200 ppm showed a significantly higher performance in survival percentage, fresh and dry weight of shoots and roots and combination of Soil: Sand (1:1) can be recommended to obtain best growth and development for Salix cuttings.