Vegetative propagation of Adhatoda vasica a medicinal plant: effect of indole-3-butyric acid (IBA) on stem cuttings

Abstract

Adhatoda vasica is commonly known as ‘Malabar nut’ and belonging to family Acanthaceae. It is important medicinal plant used in traditional system of medicine to cure various ailments. Adhatoda is well known for its efficacy in treating respiratory problems. The experiment was carried out to know the rooting ability and growth performance of A. vasica by treating with different concentrations of IBA (100, 200, 300, 400, 500, 1000, 1500, 2000 and 2500 ppm) on stem cuttings (softwood, semi hardwood and hardwood cuttings) and imposed the treatments in completely randomized design with three replications. The results revealed that, among the different IBA concentrations and type of cuttings, semi hardwood cuttings treated with 2500 ppm IBA showed the best results with highest shoot length (43.53± 5.31), plant fresh weight (35.66± 2.33), fresh root weight (36.10± 1.06), stem dry weight (30.93± 0.69) and root dry weight (21.33± 0.40) as compared to untreated cuttings. Hence, semi hardwood cuttings treated with IBA 2500 ppm can be used for mass multiplication and production of quality planting material for cultivation of A. vasica.