Earthen Storage Influence on Sprouting of Terminalia ivorensis (A. CHEV) Stem Cuttings.

Abstract

The study was conducted to determine the effect of depth and period of burying on the sprouting capacity of Terminalia ivorensis stem cuttings. Seedlings were cut 5 cm from the basal portion of the stem with a uniform cutting length of 15 cm. Burying depths of 0 cm, 5 cm, 10 cm and 15 cm and burying periods of 7 days, 14 days, 21 days and 28 days were tested in a factorial experiment at 5% level of significance. Each treatment had ten stem cuttings and three replications as blocks. Results showed that burying of stem cuttings at increasing depths for shorter number of days (interaction), significantly increased the number of stem cuttings sprouted after planting (p < 0.05). Stem cuttings buried at a depth of 15 cm for 7 days produced the highest mean number of stem cuttings sprouted (9.00). The burying depths of stem cuttings had significant effect on the sprouting capacity (p<0.05). Stem cuttings buried at a depth of 15 cm recorded the highest mean number of sprouted stem cuttings (7.17). The number of days taken to maximum sprouting of the stem cuttings after planting was significantly affected by the burying depths (p<0.05). Stem cuttings buried at depths of 15 cm recorded the least number of days (8.58) taken to maximum. The effect on sprouting of T. ivorensis was interactive between burying periods/ days and depth.

Keywords: Terminalia ivorensis, Depth, Period, Burying, Stem cuttings