A Note on the Rooting of Derris Cuttings by a Root-Promoting Substance

Abstract

The experiment was designed to test whether the root-promoting substance beta-indole-acetic acid would produce an increased rooting response in the already easily rooted cuttings of Derris and if such a response could be easily deteded. The material used in the experiment was obtained from the Amani strain\ of Derris elliptica plants. As the plants were reproduced vegetative from cuttings of a single plant at Kew they may be considered to be a clonal variety. The cuttings, all from healthy plants, were selected for their uniformity of length and thickness. There were three nodes Ion each. Of the 700 cuttings used, 350 were treated by immersing their basal inch for 24 hours in a 1/ 20,000 solution of betaindole- acetic acid in distilled water; the 350 control cuttings were similarly treated with distilled water only. The cuttings were arranged in randomized plots, fifty in each. The plots were arranged in seven blocks to facilitate analysis of the results for possible variation in rooting response due to the position of the plots in the propagating bed.