Effect of different soil media on rooting of dragon fruit cuttings

Abstract

The present study was carried out at the Fruit Nursery, Department of Fruit Science, Dr Panjabrao Deshmukh Krishi Vidypeeth, Akola.With the aim to investigate the effect of various compositions of soil media and to find the proper composition for better rooting of dragon fruit cuttings. The design of experiment was CRD with five replications consisting of seven treatment combinations viz., T1-Soil:Sand:FYM, T2-Soil:Red Soil:FYM, T3-Soil:Silt:FYM, T4-Soil:Sand:Vermicompost, T5-Soil:Red Soil:Vermicompost, T6-Soil:Silt:Vermicompost with ratio of 2:1:1 and T7 was control (100% Soil). All the data were recorded on different growth parameters of selected representative cuttings which were selected at random from each replication. Treatment T5 i.e. Soil:Red Soil:Vermicompost in ratio 2:1:1 displayed superior performance articulated in terms of root growth parameters viz., number of root per cutting (58.2), root length (21.54 cm), root diameter (2.36 mm), length of longest root (23.66 cm), average number of roots (53.62), average length of root (20.96 cm), root volume (1.82 cc), fresh weight of root (5.18 g), dry weight of root (0.86 g) and survival percentage (97.59%) among different treatments for successful propagation of dragon fruit cuttings.