Influence of Season, Leaf Presence and Indolebutyric Acid on theRooting Potential of Sweet Passion-fruit ( Passifloraalata Curtis )Cuttings

Due to a lack of researches on sweet passion fruit propagation by cuttings, two experiments were carried out to study the influence of season of year,the presence of leaves and the indolebutyric acid (IBA) on the rooting of the sweet passion flower (Passifloraalata Curtis) cuttings. In the first experiment, three to four bud-cuttings, of 5 mm diameter, 25 cm length, with and without half-leaves, collected in three seasons (spring, summer, and autumn) were planted in plastic bags filled with coarse washed sand and kept under intermittent mist. In the second experiment, cuttings collected in autumn, showing characteristics similar to those from experiment 1 and kept under the same environmental conditions, were treated with IBA, in the following concentrations: 0, 1000, 2000 and 3000 mgL-1. The cuttings were planted in substrate Solomax® + vermiculite (1:1). After 70 days, different responses in rooting were observed for each collecting season. Better results were observed for the cuttings with half-leaves collected in spring. Autumn did not seem to be a suitable season for sweet passion flower propagation by cuttings. However the treatment with IBA, showed significant increase in the percentage of rooting and in the development of the roots. The treatment 3000 mgL-1 IBA showed better results, independently of the type of cuttings. Cuttings without leaves showed higher percentage of rooting (80.9%), and the half-leaved cuttings showed good results for root dry weight and length of the longest root.