Ecology, Environment and Conservation Paper

EFFECT OF ORGANIC MANURES AND IBA ON SHOOT GROWTH AND SURVIVAL PERCENTAGE OF DRAGON FRUIT (HYLOCEREUS POLYRHIZUS) CUTTINGS

Vishal Malik, Annjoe V. Joseph, Shilpa Rana and Kanwar Singh

Abstract

An experiment was conducted to know the effect of organic manures and IBA on shoot growth and survival percentage of dragon fruit (Hylocereus polyrhizus) cuttings under shade net condition of the Department of Horticulture, Naini Agriculture Institute, Sam Higginbottom University of Agriculture Technology and Science, Prayagraj-211007 U.P., India during August to November 2022. The experiment was laid out by following a Completely Randomized Design with 10 treatments replicated thrice. Treatment consisted of different organic manures and different levels of IBA (4500, 6500 and 8500). The organic manures and IBA have a significant effect on the shoot growth and survival percentage of dragon fruit cuttings. On the basis of these results and those of other studies, we postulate that the treatment T6(Soil + Sand + Vermicompost) + IBA (8500 ppm) took the minimum days for first sprouting per cutting (17.87) and the maximum number of sprouts per cutting (DAP) per cutting (1.48, 1.84, and 3.10 at 30, 60, and 90 DAP), average length of shoot (cm) (DAP) per cutting (4.47, 13.40, and 25.65 cm at 30, 60, and 90 DAP), average diameter of shoot (mm) (DAP) per cutting (13.40, 26.03, and 40.28 mm at 30, 60, and90 DAP), length of longest shoot (cm) (DAP) per cutting (6.35, 14.65, and 27.53 cm at 30, 60, and 90 DAP), diameter of longest shoot (mm) (DAP) per cutting (14.73, 27.36, and 41.61 mm at 30, 60, and 90 DAP), sprouting percentage per cutting (29.60, 36.80, and 62.07 % at 30, 60, and 90 DAP). The treatments T3, T6, and T9 have the highest survival percentage per cutting (100.00 at 90 DAP).