MINI-STUMPS PRODUCTIVITY AND ROOTING OF Khaya ivorensis A. CHEV MINI-CUTTINGS TREATED WITH IBA

Khaya ivorensis stands out because of the quality of the wood and high economic value. Its propagation has been carried out by seeds, an obstacle in the production in large scale seedlings, since the seeds present high value and they result in heterogenous stands. The vegetative propagation is an alternative to overcome these problems. The aim of this work was to verify the feasibility of mini-cutting for african mahogany, evaluating the productivity of the mini-stumps, the rooting of mini-cuttings using different concentrations of IBA and the clonal seedlings quality. The mini-stumps were produced from seeds in tubes, pruned at 8 cm, at 60 days. At 100 days after apical pruning, the first sprouts collection was performed, and the mini-cuttings were submitted to concentrations of IBA (0; 2,000; 4,000 and 6,000 mg. L-1) for rooting evaluation. The seedlings were transplanted to clonal mini-garden, in which four collections of mini-cuttings were performed. Clonal seedlings quality was evaluated at 120 days after staking. The species showed tolerance to apical pruning and successive collections of mini-cuttings, with 96.4% survival and more than 92% of the mini-stumps producing mini-cuttings. It was observed 100% survival and rooting of mini-cuttings. There was no effect of the IBA on the rooting percentage of the mini-cuttings, however, the higher concentration of IBA increase the thinner root production. The final clonal seedling quality has similar growth for all treatments.