Paper Title
USE OF IAA TO ENHANCE GROWTH OF TOBACCO
Abstract
The impact of rooting media and Indole Acetic Acid hormone on root development of stem cuttings of Nicotiana tabacum was undertaken in this study Stem cuttings of N. tabacum treated with equal quantities of IAA hormone (0.7%) were grown in 1 kgs of vermiculate, perlite, planting soil, sand, and equal mixture of all media. The set up were treated equally with water and organic manure. Control set up was made with a mixture of different rooting media without IAA. Data on shoot development were noted for 6 weeks and root length was measured on the day of harvest. The parameters measured were analysed statistically using ANOVA, and it was found out that root and shoot lengths were significant at p>0.05 in the entire rooting media and the highest percentage development (49 and 51%) respectively for root and stem respectively, was observed in the rooting media that has equal measure of each constituent (i.e., the mixed constituents). Germination rate among the media were 100, 70, 60, 50 and 40% for mixed, sand, planting soil and vermiculate, perlite and control respectively. Different sections of mature stem tested with IAA hormone were not significant in their root and stem development, although basal cutting stems tend to mature faster than epical. This therefore means that propagating N. tabacum by stem cutting can be optimally achieved through mixture of 0.7% of IAA in a collection of different rooting media.
Keywords - Nicotiana tabacum, Indole Acetic acid, Root formation, Rooting media.