Successful stem cutting propagation of chickpea, its wild relatives and their interspecific hybrids

A successful stem cutting method was developed to propagate chickpea ( Cicer arietinum L.), its crossable wild annual relatives (C. reticulatum Ladiz. and C. echinospermum P. H. Davis) and their interspecific hybrids. The effect of plant growth regulator powder (0.5 mg/ g indole butyric acid and 0.5 mg/ g naphthalene acetic acid), honey, combined honey + plant growth regulator powder, different growth stages of the donor plant, and rooting substrates on rooting rate, root number, root length, and survival rate were investigated. The highest propagation success rate was achieved when cuttings were taken at the pre-flowering stage, treated with plant growth regulator powder and grown in a sand + potting mix substrate. The rooting rate ranged from 87.5 to 100% for chickpea, C. reticulatum and C. echinospermum, and interspecific hybrids. All of the accessions examined in the study were successfully propagated with the new method. This study provides a simple and efficient technique for vegetative propagation of Cicer species which will be useful for the multiplication of seed, production of clones for disease screening or for the development of mapping populations.