Jujhar Singh, Vishal Gill, Bharti Singh, Gitanjli Rathore, Shalini Aryan and Rohit Sharma
Abstract
Bougainvillea is a key ornamental floriculture crop, valued for its vibrant, modified leaves and climbing, bushy habit. Growers often face challenges during sprouting and root initiation. To improve propagation, cuttings can be treated with plant growth regulators like IBA and NAA and rooted in suitable substrate media that significantly affect rooting and sprouting success. An experiment was conducted during the winter season of 2020-21 at the Experimental Farm, Department of Agriculture, Mata Gujri College, Fatehgarh Sahib, Punjab. It followed a randomized block design comprising two rooting hormones (IBA @ 2000 mg kg-¹ and NAA @ 3000 mg kg-¹) and seven growing media combinations replicated thrice. The media included: M1 - Sand [1], M2 - Sand + Soil [1:1], M3 - Sand + Soil + Cocopeat [1:1:1], M4 - Sand + Soil + FYM [1:1:1], M5- Sand + Soil + Neemcake [1:1:1], M6 - Sand + FYM + Cocopeat [1:1:1], and M7 - Sand + Neemcake + Cocopeat [1:1:1]. The results revealed that both IBA and NAA had a significant impact on the vegetative and root attributes of Bougainvillea cuttings. Among media, M1 (Sand) exhibited the minimum days to sprouting, maximum root length, highest wet and dry root weights, and highest sprouting percentage under both hormones. For shoot attributes, M4 (Sand + Soil + FYM) supported the maximum number of leaves and stems per cutting, indicating enhanced vegetative growth. Although, M5 (Sand + Soil + Neemcake) showed the highest stem girth, it performed poorest in terms of rooting and sprouting. Overall, the study concludes that the use of sand as a rooting medium, particularly when combined with IBA, significantly improves root initiation, weight, and survival percentage, making it a cost-effective and efficient option for Bougainvillea propagation. The findings also highlight the synergistic effect of FYM-enriched media in promoting shoot development, making it beneficial for post-rooting vegetative growth.