Effect of indolebutyric acid and cultivar on rooting of hardwood cuttings of blueberry

Among the propagation methods of blueberry, cutting is the technique that presents low cost. However, it provides different results depending on cultivar and others factors. Thus, the objective of this research was to evaluate the IBA effect on rooting of hardwood cuttings of blueberry cultivars Powderblue, Delite, Climax, Bluebelle and Woodard. The vegetative material used (from mother nursery) was 15 cm long segment taken from main branches with approximately 6 mm diameter. After cuttings preparation, the cuttings base were immersed for 15 seconds into a phytoregulator solution (IBA) at the following concentrations: 0, 1000, 2000, 4000 or 8000 mg L-1. Cuttings were set to root into medium sand under intermittent micro-sprinkler irrigation. The experimental design used was a complete randomized block with five cultivars and five IBA concentrations, with four replications and ten cuttings per plot. The percentage of rooted cuttings, average number of roots per cuttings, length of the better-developed root, average number of shoots and length of the largest shoot were evaluated after eight months of experiment installation. The response of the blueberry cultivars to root cutting varied with the indelbutyric acid concentration. Regardless to IBA presence and cultivar, the percentage of rooting rating was higher than 55%.