Own-rooted Walnut Propagule of Four Walnut (Juglans) Rootstocks and Main Cultivated Cultivar Liaoning 1 Acquirement through Layering under Field Conditions

Abstract

Walnut, a woody plant, is regarded as having difficulty rooting when propagated by vegetative methods, such as cutting and layering. A layering experiment was conducted in 2018 and 2022. In 2018, some Juglans species, including J. regia L. seedling (JR), J. regia cv. Liaoning 1 (JR LN1), J. hopeinesis Hu seedling (JH), J. mandshurica Maxim seedling (JM), and J. nigra L. seedling (JN), were the mother plants. The specific research hypotheses were that own-rooted walnut propagule could be obtained through layering. the rooting capacity of different Juglans species would be different, and the rooting ability of JN would be the highest among the samplings. The results indicated that all of these species in the experiment could be rooted by etiolation and indole-3-butyric acid (IBA) treatment and that root occurrence was found 6 to 7 weeks after IBA treatment. The layers (shoots from the mother plant) on the seedlings of JR, JH, and JM obtained rooting percentages (RP) of 75.55%, 84.45%, and 86.67%, respectively, and root numbers (RNs) of 21.8, 42.8, and 38.8, respectively, after 20 days of etiolation and 1% IBA treatment. JR LN1 had difficulty rooting in equal conditions and had a RP of 31.11%. In 2022, JR LN1 was the only mother plant and the IBA concentration was increased to obtain satisfactory RP and RN. With the 4% and 8% IBA treatments, RPs of 88.9% and 93.3% and RNs of 40.3 and 27.7, respectively, were achieved. During the experiment, the RP, RN, root length (RL), and root diameter (RD), as well as the layer height (LH) and layer diameter (LD), were investigated and evaluated. Layers with low vigor were more likely to root, as shown by a nonparametric test conducted for the height and diameter of the layers of the rooting and nonrooting groups. A significantly negative correlation (r = −0.548) was observed between RN and LH. Moreover, the quality of the best results of JR LN1 layering propagule and that with ‘liaoning 1’ 1-year-old seedling were compared. Our results provide more support for the possibility of vegetative propagation of walnut by layering and more information regarding the clonal cultivation of walnut trees and the own-rooted seedling establishment of walnut cultivars.