Abstract:
Chirita zeylanica and Chirita walkeri (Gesneriaceae) are endemic wild
flowering plant species found in Sri Lanka having an exploitation potential
within commercial floriculture. Both species can be propagated by
seedlings, soft wood cuttings, and leaf cuttings. Seedlings and soft wood
cuttings are not entirely efficient methods of mass propagation as these
methods cannot produce a large number of plants within a short period. But,
one Chirita leaf can produce a cluster of plantlets within 3-4 weeks.
Therefore, this study was conducted to determine the most suitable rooting
medium, method of placement of the leaf cutting in the medium, and effect
of exogenous Indole butyric acid (IBA) for successful rooting and higher
rate of plantlet regeneration in C. zeylanica and C. walkeri leaf cuttings.
Sand only and sand and compost, 1:1 media were used with three methods
of leaf cutting placements; only leaf petiole dipped in medium (A), entire
leaf on the surface of the medium (B) and petiole and half of the leaf dipped
in medium (C), with and without IBA application. The treatments were
arranged in a factorial experiment using a randomized complete block
design (RCBD) with 6 replicates. The mean number of primary roots, root
length, and number of plantlets were recorded after 60 days. For both
species, sand medium was significantly effective on rooting. For C.
zeylanica, the effect of placements A and B gave significantly high rooting
and number of plantlets in the sand medium. For C. walkeri, cutting
placement B was significantly effective on rooting. For both species IBA
treatment showed no significant effect. Plantlets formation could not be
observed in C. walkeri leaf cuttings even after 60 days.
