Cheap Substitutes of Auxin for the Clonal Propagation of <I>Casuarina equisetifolia</I>

Abstract

Investigations were undertaken to study the effect of IBA and several phenolic compounds on the rooting and growth of cladode segments of Casuarina equisetifolia. 1,000,5,000 and 10,000 ppm concentrations of IBA as well as the 100 ppm concentration of most of the phenolic compounds tried promoted rooting and the growth of cladode segments. However, the promotion of rooting and the growth of the segments even with ]000 ppm IBA were greater when the phenolic compound was applied as a pretreatment immediately before the auxin treatment. The phenolic compounds were found to reduce IBA requirement by 80% - 90%. Besides the rooting and the growth of the segments treated with only 1000 ppm IBA after pretreatment with phenolic compounds were found equally good or even superior to the segments which were treated with 5,000 or 10,000 ppm IBA alone. The relevance of the findings for the rapid mass clonal multiplication of economically important plant species has been discussed.