Evaluation of vegetation indices and plant growth regulator use on the rooting of azalea cuttings

The objective of our study was to develop a protocol enabling the use of vegetation indices to evaluate the rooting of Azalea (Rhododendron pulchrum cv. Sweet) cuttings. Six root growth parameters were recorded after exposing those cuttings to rooting media for 47 days. Among plants with different soil-plant analysis development (SPAD) and normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) values, those with higher values exhibited significantly higher number of roots, root length, and root dry weight, suggesting that reflectance indices were useful in measuring the root growth parameters of the cuttings. Another aim of this work was to study the effects of plant growth regulators (PGRs) on rooting for cutting propagation. Azalea cuttings were soaked in the treatments with indole-3-butyric acid (IBA) at 2,000 mg L-1 or combined with 1-naphthaleneacetic acid (NAA; 2,000 mg L-1), salicylic acid (SA; 10-4 M), and thiamine (TA; 800 mg L-1). The same observations as SPAD and NDVI on six different rooting parameters were recorded and analyzed after cutting's exposure to rooting media for 99 days for the auxin test, and 62 days for the SA and TA tests. Compared to NAA alone, IBA enhanced root growth and development as determined by increases in all parameters, and therefore it was used thereafter. Successful results for the number of roots and root dry weight were achieved using azalea cuttings with a combination of IBA and SA. In addition, the mix of IBA and TA resulted in higher number of roots and length of root. These combined treatments are recommended for establishing stem cuttings to produce nursery plants of azalea.