Abstract:
Chirita moonii is an endemic wild flowering plant which belongs to family
Gesneriaceae. Genus Chirita contains about 80 species; four species endemic to Sri
Lanka are C moonii, C. walkerae, C. angusta and C. zeylanica. Although propagation
of Chirita moonii is possible either by seedlings, cuttings or leaves, documented
materials about researches are very limited. This research was undertaken to determine
the most suitable rooting media, rooting hormone combination and their level on stem
and leaf cuttings as well as effect of Gibberelline on growth and flowering of seedlings.
The research was conducted as three experiments with 10 replicates. Completely
Randomized Design was used as experimental design. First experiment was to find out
the most suitable rooting media and NAA level for rooting of Cuttings. Two rooting
media were used as sand and sand + coir dust (1:1) and four NAA levels were used as
Oppm, lOOppm, 150ppm and 200ppm. 10-15cm long softwood cuttings were used as
planting materials. Survival percentage, shoot length and number of new leaves were
recorded at 3 weeks intervals. Average root length, root fresh weight and root vigor
were recorded after 3 months of planting. In the second experiment, three rooting media
as sand, coir dust and sand + coir dust (1:1) and four NAA levels as Oppm, lOOOppm,
2000ppm and 3000ppm were tested on rooting of leaves. Number of primary roots,
average root length, root fresh weight and root vigor were recorded after 3 months of
planting. In experiment three, effect of Gibberelline on growth and flowering of
seedlings were investigated using five GA3 levels as Oppm, 5Oppm, lOOppm, 15Oppm
and 200ppm. Plant height, inter nodal length, number of new leaves, petiole length, leaf
size, number of branches and number of flowers/ plant were recorded at 2 weeks
intervals.
It was found from results in experiment one that cuttings grown in sand + coir dust
(1:1) media treated with 150ppm NAA level significantly (p<0.05) increased the root
fresh weight, root length and the root vigor. Cuttings planted in sand + coir dust media
shows the higher shoot length than sand media. NAA level was not effective for shoot
growth. Treatments were not significantly affected on the number of new leaves.
Leaves planted in Sand + coir dust (1:1) media treated with lOOOppm NAA recorded
:k the highest root fresh weight, number of roots and root length.Seedlings treated with
150ppm GA3 showed the best plant height, inter nodal length, number of new leaves
leaf length and number of branches. It is also observed that three months duration was
not sufficient to investigate the effect of G A 3 on flowering.
According to the experimental results; Sand + coir dust (1:1) media with 150ppm NAA
level was the best for root growth performances in soft wood cuttings of Chirita mooni.
Sand + coir dust (1:1) media with lOOOppm NAA was best for root growth
performances in Chirita moonii leaves. 150ppm GA3 was the best for growth
performances in Chirita moonii seedlings.
