Influence of Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi on Rooting Ability of Auxin Treated Stem Cuttings of Dalbergia melanoxylon (Guill and Perr.)

In efforts to optimize vegetative propagation of Dalbergia melanoxylon, the effects of inoculation of Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi (AMF) on rooting ability of D. melanoxylon stem cuttings treated with auxin Indole-3-Butyric Acid (IBA) were investigated. Three inoculum levels of AMF namely control, 1:1 and 1:2 (v/v) ratio of inoculum to propagation substrate, respectively and two levels of cutting types designated as middle and basal cutting positions were used. Rooting parameters in terms of rooting percentage, root number, root length and root dry weight were evaluated. Analysis of variance revealed that the effect of AMF inoculation was significant (p<0.001) only for percent rooting and root dry weight among the rooting parameters evaluated. The effect of cutting type and the interactive effect of inoculation and cutting type were insignificant for all studied rooting parameters. Comparisons of means by Duncan’s Multiple Range Test (DMRT) for the different treatments revealed that the quantity of inoculum significantly (p<0.05) influenced high performance in all rooting parameters evaluated. The highest percentages in rooting was (67.28%) for the cuttings from basal position. The study has revealed a strong AMF influence on rooting ability of auxin treated stem cuttings in D. melanoxylon. It was concluded that for vegetative propagation, AMF inoculum should be used for auxin treated cuttings to produce high quality planting stock material for the afforestation and conservation programme for D. melanoxylon.