Dickens E. Dolor, Nosayaba N., Odiete L.
Abstract
The effects of some post severance treatments on the rooting potentials of juvenile stem cuttings of Irvingia wombolu
was assessed in an experiment conducted at the Teaching and Research Farm of the Delta State University, Asaba Campus,
Nigeria. 400 single node softwood cuttings of I. wombolu were randomly assigned to the 5 treatments namely orange seed
extract, pawpaw seed extract, African pear seed extract, 250 ppm indole-3-butyric acid (IBA) dissolved in industrial
alcohol and a control (50% alcohol) applied by dipping the base of the cuttings for 5 seconds The results displayed a
pronounced effect of seed extract and IBA on the rooting percentage with IBA (34.4%) and pawpaw seed extract (26.7%)
not different from each other but higher (P < 0.001) than the control (14.8%), orange (11.9%) and African pear
(10.8%). The mean numbers of roots ranged between 0.71 and 2.01 in African pear and IBA respectively. A similar result
was obtained for root length. Seed extracts and IBA did not significantly (P > 0.05) influence leaf abscission,
cutting mortality and shoot formation. The results suggest the pawpaw seed extract can replace synthetic IBA in
inducing rooting of cuttings of I. wombolu for mass clonal propagation.
Key words:
Irvingia wombolu, dika nut, ogbono, vegetative propagation, seed extracts, pawpaw, orange, African pear, IBA,
auxin, domestication, non-mist propagation system