Vegetative Propagation Of Aquilaria Cumingiana (Decne) Ridl.: Effects Of Iba Concentration And Leaf Trimming

Aquilaria cumingiana (Decne) Ridl. is considered among the agarwood-producing species (APS) that grows naturally in the Philippines. With the government's restriction in trade and collection, APS domestication using vegetative propagation to address the problem of seed supply for mass production of seedlings for plantation establishment has been found the best option. This study assessed the effect of various indole-3-butyric acid (IBA) concentrations (0, 250 and 500 ppm), different leaf trimmings (trimmed 0, 25 and 50% of the leaf surface area) and their interaction using young and juvenile leafy stem cuttings. Parameters evaluated include percent rooting (PR), number of roots (NR), number of secondary roots (NSR), length of the longest roots (LLR), and average root length (ARL). While non-significant effects were obtained from most of the root traits evaluated, results of the analysis of variance (p > 0.05) detected a significant effect in the case of LLR treated with 500 ppm of IBA (15.25 mm, p = 0.039) and NSR in cuttings with untrimmed leaf laminas (5.19, p = 0.028). A significant effect was also generated from IBA and leaf trimming interaction in terms of the NSR, particularly between untrimmed cuttings (OW) and 250 ppm IBA (6.48, p = 0.049). Generally, the results of the study reflect the ability to mass produce the A. cumingiana using unsophisticated techniques of macro-somatic cloning.