Appliction of Actiwve for Improving the Rooting of Cmelli Cuttings A. Ferrnte nd A. Trivellini Dept. Agriculture nd Environmentl Sciences Università degli Studi di Milno Itly P. Vernieri Dip. Scienze Agrrie, Alimentri e Agro-mientli University of Pis Itly A. Piggesi Vlgro SpA Pizzno di Atess (CH) Itly Keywords: iostimulnts, growth, nursery, ornmentl, sustinle Astrct Biostimulnts re generlly le to improve minerl use efficiency, enhnce plnt tolernce to iotic nd iotic stresses nd stimulte some physiologicl processes relted to development. In our studies, Actiwve ws tested in floriculturl crops such s Cmelli jponic L. to speed up growth reducing the nursery. The experiments were performed on flowering cmelli, using non-rooted cuttings treted with Actiwve (Vlgro Sp) nd gierillic cid (GA 3 ). The Actiwve ws pplied providing 0.015 or 0.03 ml per cutting, while the GA 3 ws pplied 1.25 or 2.5 mg per cutting. Tretments were repeted ech month with eight pplictions in totl. The iostimulnt ws distriuted on the sustrte with volume of 100 ml. The GA 3 insted ws neulized on the leves nd on the sustrte of ech cutting. Rooting ws monitored during the whole experimentl period. The mesurements of fresh nd dry weight were tken fter 127 dys. Results showed tht oth Actiwve nd GA 3 stimulted the rooting compred with control. The two concentrtions of Actiwve hd the sme effect, with n verge fresh root mss of 0.5 g. The tretment with GA 3 ws oserved for dose-effect response. The differences in dry weight were oserved only on roots, nd vlues were significntly higher in the tretments compred to the control. INTRODUCTION For yers, the reserch ctivity in the griculture systems hs een oriented to increse yield, without considering the qulity of the produces nd the rtionl use of resources. In recent yers the sitution is reversed, with ttention focused minly on qulity nd on environmentlly sustinle cultivtion. Most floriculture species must e grown under restricted progrmmed cycles in order to e successful on the mrket. The edding plnts, for exmple, re chrcterized y short growing cycles, strict production plns nd limited growing re. Therefore, the growth must e fst in order to improve the use of lor nd distriution of work per unit re. The wide rnge of fertilizer vilility, growth regultors nd iostimulnts frequently disorient the grower s choice out the rtionl use of resources, with inefficient results or even negtive effects on qulity of the products (Vernieri nd Mugni, 2003; Vernieri et l., 2005, 2006). In the production of helthy cmelli plntlets, vigorous nd uniform re the min ojectives of the nursery, s well s the optimiztion of spce nd time for plnt production. In the nursery, in fct, the permnence of long production period is directly trnslted in n economic loss. Therefore, ll techniques re finlized to speed up the development, enhncing the frm income. Surely, plnt growth regultors cn hve significnt role to this im. Cuttings re generlly treted with rooting hormones tht re composed of synthetic uxins (De Klerk et l., 1999). Cmelli cuttings cn esily root nd the uxin tretments ccelerte the emission of roots, ut the development of shoots is relted to the ctivtion of the cuttings metolism. In the ornmentl sector, eco-sustinle nd orgnic production hs een incresing. In this spect, the ppliction of iostimulnts plys n importnt role y ctivting the metolism of plnts nd speeding up mny physiologicl processes relted to development. Biostimulnts re plnt extrcts contining mino cids, vitmins Proc. I st World Congress on the Use of Biostimulnts in Agriculture Eds.: S. S Silv et l. Act Hort. 1009, ISHS 2013 213
nd minerl elements. Severl studies hve shown n increse of minerl use efficiency in treted plnts (Vernieri et l., 2005, 2006). The success of ornmentl plnts is highly relted to esthetic vlue, defined y the color of leves nd flowers. The ppliction of iostimulnts provided good results for the production of edding plnts (Vernieri nd Mugni, 2003). Some iostimulnts re utilized to promote roots emission nd rooting (Berlyn nd Russo, 1990). On the sis of this informtion, reserch hs een plnned to ccelerte the rooting nd reduce the nursery stge s much s possile. MATERIALS AND METHODS Plnt Mterils nd Tretments Experiments were performed on cmelli (Cmelli jponic L.) using non-rooted woody cuttings. Actiwve (Vlgro Sp) nd gierellic cid (Sigm-Aldrich, Itly) were the iostimulnts used. Cuttings were sudivided in five groups of 20 repetitions corresponding to the following tretments: control, tretment with iostimulnt Actiwve respectively to the doses 0.015 ml (AW_1) nd 0.03 ml (AW_2) for ech cutting, nd gierellic cid to the doses of 1.25 mg (GA3_1) nd 2.5 mg (GA3_2) for ech cutting. Tretments were repeted ech month for totl of eight pplictions. The totl doses pplied were: 0.12 ml (AW_1) or 0.24 ml (AW_2) of Actiwve for ech cutting, nd 10 mg (GA3_1) or 20 mg (GA3_2) of gierellic cid for ech cutting. The iostimulnt ws pplied directly on the sustrte. Gierellic cid, insted, ws neulized on the leves nd on the sustrte of the cutting. Mesurements During the experimentl period, rooting percentge, fresh nd dry weight were mesured. A first growth mesurement ws performed t the eginning of the experiment efore tretments were pplied. Four smples for ech tretment were tken nd destructive nlyses were crried out. Fresh weight nd dry weight (in ventilted oven t 70 C until constnt weight) were mesured. The second mesurement ws performed fter 127 dys. Sttisticl Anlysis Experimentl design ws composed y four completely rndomized locks, nd ech lock included two tretments nd two concentrtions. The dt were sujected to two-wys nlysis of vrince nd the differences mong tretments were nlyzed y Tukey post-test (P<0.05). The dt re reported in figures nd tle s mens ± stndrd errors. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Actiwve nd gierellic cid (GA 3 ) stimulted rooting of cmelli cuttings nd fter 96 dys the roots were well developed in oth tretments while the control did not hve ny root (Tle 1). After 114 dys, the two Actiwve concentrtions showed the sme effect with weight verge of 0.5 g. In the tretment with GA 3 the plnt response ws dose dependent. In fct, the highest vlue ws found in the highest GA 3 concentrtion (Fig. 1A). After 127 dys, the rooting percentge ws 82% in the Actiwve treted cutting, while in the control it ws 18%; fter 161 dys the rooting percentge vlues incresed ut the differences were the sme (Tle 1). The numer of leves ws higher in GA 3 tretments (3.9-4.0 verge) compred with Actiwve nd control. The ility of iostimulnts to increse root iomss hs een lredy reported (Berlyn nd Russo, 1990). The effect of Actiwve on stimulting root growth ws lredy oserved in rocket plnts grown in floting system using different nutrient concentrtions (Vernieri et l., 2006). The fresh weight of shoot nd leves fter 127 dys ws not ffected y the Actiwve nd GA 3 _1 tretments. A significnt difference ws only oserved etween the two GA 3 tretments (Fig. 1B). The lower concentrtion in oth tretments showed 214
higher iomss production, 2.15 nd 2.20 g in Actiwve nd GA 3 respectively. The higher concentrtions insted showed vlues similr to the control. The fresh weight of whole cuttings (roots + shoot nd leves) mesured fter 127 dys in oth tretments ws higher thn the control (Fig. 1C), ut sttisticlly, differences were only found for the lower concentrtion of the two tretments. The highest dose showed lower totl iomss verging 2.66 g in Actiwve nd 2.47 g GA 3 treted cuttings. The increse of fresh weight fter tretment with Actiwve ws lso oserved in other ornmentl species such s Colues lumei, Imptiens wllern nd Slvi splendes (Vernieri et l., 2006). The increse of fresh weight ws oserved y using different iostimulnts nd plnt species. Tretments with Root Grow WP enhnced the fresh iomss in English ok in n urn environment (Ferrini nd Nicese, 2002). Anlogous results were otined in green ens (Phseolus vulgris L.) treted with Roots, commercil product composed of humic cids, mrine lge extrcts, thimine nd scoric cid (Russo nd Berlyn, 1992). The dry weight of roots fter 127 dys showed tht Actiwve nd GA 3 stimulted the root initition nd development compred with the control (Fig. 2A). Both Actiwve nd GA 3 showed dose effect response, even if dt were not sttisticlly different. In fct, higher vlues were found in higher concentrtions. In the higher Actiwve concentrtion the root dry weight ws 86 mg while in GA 3 it ws 76 mg. This vlue ws lmost equl to the lower concentrtion of Actiwve with n verge of 72 mg. The dry weight of shoots showed higher iomss in the control cuttings (77 mg) compred to tretments (Fig. 2B). This mens tht treted cuttings hd higher wter content compred with the control. The cuttings treted with lower concentrtions hd higher vlues in shoots. The dry weight of whole rooted cuttings (roots+shoots nd leves) fter 127 dys showed vlues similr to the control (76 mg) in oth Actiwve nd GA 3 tretments (Fig. 6). CONCLUSIONS The results showed tht Actiwve is le to enhnce rooting in Cmelli cuttings in the nursery. Therefore, this iostimulnt cn e used s n lterntive to hormonl compounds for improving the spce use efficiency in the nursery, llowing the production of plnts with eco-sustinle methods without using synthetic compounds. Literture Cited Berlyn, G.P. nd Russo, R.O. 1990. The use of orgnic iostimulnts to promote root growth. Belowground Ecol. 2:12-13. De Klerk, G.J., vn Der Krieken, W. nd De Jong, J. 1999. The formtion of dventitious roots: new concepts, new possiilities. In Vitro Cell. Dev. Biol. 35:189-199. Ferrini, F. nd Nicese, F.P. 2002. Response of English ok (Quercus rour L.) trees to iostimulnts ppliction in the urn environment. Journl of Aroriculture 28(2):70-75. Russo, R.O. nd Berlyn, G.P. 1992. Vitmin-humic-lgl root iostimulnt increses yield of green en. HortScience 27(7):847. Vernieri, P. nd Mugni, S. 2003. L uso di iostimolnti nell produzione di pinte fiorite nnuli d ordur. L Informtore Agrrio 24:51-54. Vernieri, P., Borghesi, E., Tognoni, F., Serr, G., Ferrnte, A. nd Piggesi, A. 2006. Use of iostimulnts for reducing nutrient solution concentrtion in floting system. Act Hort. 718:477-484. Vernieri, P., Ferrnte, A., Borghesi, E. nd Mgnni, G. 2005. Pinte fiorite di qulità con l impiego di iostimolnti. L Informtore Agrrio 16:57-60. Vernieri, P., Ferrnte, A., Borghesi, E. nd Mugni, S. 2006. I iostimolnti: uno strumento per migliorre l qulità delle produzioni. Fertilits Agrorum 1(1):17-22. 215
Tles Tle 1. Rooting percentge ws clculted t ech smpling dte within ech tretment nd numer of leves in the different tretments of Actiwve or GA 3. Rooting (%) Numer of leves fter 96 d fter 114 d fter 161 d fter 161 d Control 0 18 59 2.9 AW_1 70 82 88 3.5 AW_2 47 65 77 3.3 GA3_1 65 65 77 4.0 GA3_2 29 77 47 3.9 216
Figures Roots FW (g) 0.7 0.6 0.5 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.1 0.0 Shoot+leves FW (g) Whole plnts FW (g) A B 2 1 0 C 3 2 1 0 Control AW_1 AW_2 GA3_1 GA3_2 Tretments Fig. 1. Effect of tretments with Actiwve t the following concentrtions 0.12 ml/cutting (AW_1) or 0.24 ml/cutting (AW_2) nd gierellic cid t the following concentrtions 10 mg (GA 3 _1) or 20 mg (GA 3 _2) on fresh roots weight (A), shoot nd leves fresh weight (B) nd on whole plntlets (C) fter 127 dys. Vlues re the mens ± stndrd errors (n=3). Dt were sujected to one-wys ANOVA. Different letters indicte significnt differences (P<0.05). 217
Roots DW (mg) Shoot+leves DW (g) Whole plnts DW (g) 12 10 8 6 4 2 0 A 1.0 B 0.5 0.0 1.0 C 0.8 0.6 0.4 0.2 0.0 Control AW_1 AW_2 GA3_1 GA3_2 Tretments Fig. 2. Effect of tretments with Actiwve t the following concentrtions 0.12 ml/cutting (AW_1) or 0.24 ml/cutting (AW_2) nd gierellic cid t the following concentrtions 10 mg (GA 3 _1) or 20 mg (GA 3 _2) on dry roots weight (A), shoot nd leves dry weight (B) nd dry weight of the whole plntlets (C) fter 127 dys. Vlues re the mens ± stndrd errors (n=3). Dt were sujected to one-wys ANOVA. Different letters indicte significnt differences (P<0.05). 218