To Study the Effect of Willow Extract on Apple Cuttings for Different Time Duration

Abstract

An experiment on “To study the effect of Willow extract on Apple cuttings for different time duration” was conducted in Agricultural Research Station Baffa, Mansehra during the growing season 2017. The experimental design was RCBD with three replication. There were 4 treatment consisting of control (To treatment) T₁ (dipping of Apple cutting in extract for 4 hours), T₂ (dipping of Apple cutting in extract for 6 hours) and T₃ (dipping of Apple cutting in extract for 8 hours). Each treatment consists of 30 cuttings. The experimental results revealed that there is a significant effect on apple cutting after treatment with the willow extract. The data showed that the maximum sprouting percentage (97.183) was noted for the T₁(04 hours) which is at par with (96.407)  for T₂ (06 hours) and (95.850) T₃ (08 hours), maximum plant height (20.567 cm) was noted for T₃ (08 hours), maximum number of roots per plant (14.093) were noted for the T₃ (08 hours), maximum root length (14.093 cm) were observed in the T₃ (08 hours) which is at par with (11.810 cm) noted in the T₂ (06 hours), maximum plant diameter (1.3700 cm) was noted for T₃ (08 hours), maximum number of branches per plant (5.1633 ) were recorded for the T₃ (08 hours) which is at par with (4.6167) noted for T₂ (06 hours), while the minimum sprouting percentage was observed in the T₀ (control treatment) 91.707, minimum plant height (10.440 cm) was recorded for the T₀ (control), minimum number of roots per plant (5.620) were noted in the T₀ (control treatment), minimum root length (6.623 cm) was noted for T₀ (control treatment) closely followed by (8.877 cm) for the T₁ (4 hours), minimum plant diameter (0.1667cm) was recorded for the T₀ (control treatment) which is at par with (0.2533 cm) noted for the T₂ (04 hours), minimum number of branches (2.1533) were recorded for the T₀ (control treatment).

Keywords: apple, cuttings, auxin, willow, plant height, plant diameter, root length, number of roots and number of branches etc