Effect of Indolebutyric Acid and Time of Cutting on Rooting of Ficus benjamina cvs.  Starlight and  Comosa'

This study was conducted to compare rooting of cutting in Ficus benjamina cv. ‘Comosa’ and cv. ‘Starlight’ and also the effect of different concentrations of IBA and time of taking cutting on rooting of Ficus benjamina in Gorgan University of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, in 2012. The experiment was performed in a randomized complete block design with three replications. Treatments consisted of four levels of IBA (0, 2000, 4000 and 6000 mg l-1 IBA, two time of taking cuttings (late June and early September) and two plant cultivars (F. benjamina cv. ‘Comosa’ and cv. ‘Starlight’). Results showed that maximum of root percentage of cuttings was observed in F. benjamina cv. ‘Comosa’ and cutting time of early September with 4000 and 6000 mg l-1 IBA and also in late June with 4000 mg l-1 IBA. The maximum root length and fresh weight was achieved in cuttings of F. benjamina cv. ‘Comosa’ and cutting time of early September with 6000 mg l-1 IBA. The greatest number of root was obtained in cuttings of F. benjamina cv. ‘Comosa’ with 6000 mg l-1 IBA in both cutting time of late June and early September. The highest survival percentage of plant was recorded in cuttings of F. benjamina cv. ‘Comosa’ and cutting time of early September with 2000, 4000 and 6000 mg l-1 IBA. In general, results showed that F. benjamina cv. ‘Comosa’ had better rooting than F. benjamina cv. ‘Starlight’ and higher concentrations of IBA caused increase in rooting percentage, length and number of roots.