CHAPTER VIII

Vegetative Propagation of Rudraksh

Through Branch Cuttings

Introduction
The population of Rudraksh is depleting in nature due to its

overexploitation. The ripened fruits of Rudraksh are collected by man in huge

quantity from the forest floor for making 'malas' or to sell them in market at

higher prices. The Rudraksh plants are also used by the people as fuel and

timber. Moreover, the stony nuts of Rudraksh germinate hardly up to 5% in

natural conditions and its seedlings are eaten/killed by wild animals. Thus, its

regeneration is very poor. As the seeds do not germinate easily in nature, it

was thought worthwhile to examine whether this tree species can propagate

through vegetative means by giving some growth hormone treatments to

stem/branch cuttings in different seasons under the green house conditions.

Materials and Methods

Branch cuttings of Rudraksh were collected from the healthy mother

plant (8-10 years old) in four seasons of the year viz., spring (February),

summer (May), rainy (August) and winter (November). The uniform-sized

cuttings of 15-20 cm length and 5 cm diameter were selected (20 cuttings for

each treatment) and treated with 100, 200, 500 ppm (mg/l) each of IAA

(Indole acetic acid), IBA (lndole-3 buteric acid), NAA (Napthalene acetic acid)

and 2, 4-D (Dicholorophenoxy acetic acid) respectively by dipping about 5 cm

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basal cut ends in the respective solution for 24 hours. Twenty cuttings were

separately soaked in distilled water to serve as the control. The treated

cuttings were planted during aforesaid seasons in polythene bags containing

equal amount of garden soil and sand and small amount of farmyard manure.

The polythene bags were kept in the net house and watered regularly. The

observations on sprouting were made after 30, 45, and 60 days from the date

of treatment. Rooting response of the cuttings was observed by uprooting

them from the bags.

Results

Sprouting
Sprouting was observed only in February and May in the most

treatments except NAA100, IBA200, 2,4-D10o, 200 & 500- The cuttings planted in

February sprouted better than those planted in May. No sprouting was

observed in the cuttings planted in August and November. Moreover, number

of sprouts per cutting and average sprout length were more in the case of

cuttings planted in February than those planted in May (Table VIII.1).

Rooting responses

No rooting was observed in any of the cuttings which sprouted.

Though sprouting was observed in both the seasons, sprouts were dead after

about one month from the date of sprouting. Thus the hormonal treatments

failed to stimulate rooting in the cuttings.

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Table VIII.1. Response of cuttings to various growth hormones in different

seasons.
Treatments No. of No.. of cuttings sprouted Average Average Rooting Survival
(ppm) cuttings sprouts per sprout length (%) (%)
planted. cutting. (mm)
Feb. May August Nov. Feb. May Feb. May Feb. May

IAA-100 20 3 2 Nil Nil 1.33 1 4.5 4.5 Nil Nil Nil

(15) (10) ±1.1 ±0.5

IAA-200 20 5 2 Nil Nil 1.20 1 4.2 4.2 Nil Nil Nil

(25) (10) ±1.6 ±1.2

IAA-500 20 g 5 Nil Nil 1.55 1.2 4.1 4.6 Nil Nil Nil
(45) (25) ±1.8 ±1.9

IBA-100 20 7 1 Nil Nil 1.14 2 5 5 Nil Nil Nil

(35) (5) ±1.3 ±1.0

IBA-200 20 10 Nil Nil 1.20 - 4.9 - Nil Nil Nil

(50) (0) ±2.4

IBA-500 20 15 9 Nil Nil 1.37 1.4 6.5 5.9 Nil Nil Nil
(75) (45) ±2.9 ±2.8

NAA-100 20 Nil Nil - - - Nil Nil Nil

(0) (0) -

NAA-200 20 2 1 Nil Nil 1.50 1 8.6 4 Nil Nil Nil

(10) (5) ±2.9 ±1.1

NAA-500 20 7 8 Nil Nil 1.42 1.5 8.3 7.3 Nil Nil Nil
(35) (40) ±3.3 ±2.4

2.4-D-100 20 Nil Nil - - - Nil Nil Nil

(0) (0) -

2.4-D-200 20 2 Nil Nil 1 - 6 Nil Nil Nil

(10) (0) ±2 -

2,4-0-500 20 Nil Nil - - - Nil Nil Nil

(0) (0) -

Control. 20 5 3 Nil Nil 1.40 1.3 4.3 7.7 Nil Nil Nil
(25) (15) ±1.2 ±2.3
Values in the parentheses are the percentage of sprouted cuttings.

Discussion
The results of the present investigation and those reported by earlier

workers (Momose 1978, Halle & Hanif Kamil 1981, Srivastava & Manggil

1981, Khoslaef al. 1982b, Smits 1983, Puri & Nagpal 1988, Puri & Shamet
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1988, Radwan et al. 1989, Bhatt & Todaria, 1993a, b, Chauhan et al. 1993,

Gauttam & Negi 1997b, Bhatt & Todaria 1990b) show a wide variation in

rooting and sprouting ability of cuttings and inconsistent effect of different

concentrations of various auxins.

Several workers have reported that exogenous application of

hormones induces rooting in a number of species (Bhagawati & Badani 1993,

Puri & Shamet 1988, Bhatt & Todaria 1993a, b). The present study suggests

that no general conclusion can be drawn regarding the effect of a particular

auxin on vegetative propagation of Rudraksh. Though sprouting was induced

in cuttings during spring (February) and summer (May) seasons, the hormone

treatments could not induce rooting in any of the cuttings in any season.

Seasonal stimulus plays an important role in the callus formation in

trees. Only two seasons stimulated sprouting in the stem cuttings of

Rudraksh. A number of workers have shown that rooting of cuttings is

facilitated when carbohydrate reserve foods are in abundance (Kraus &

Kraybill 1918, Knight 1926, Carlson 1929, Duguma 1988). Much of the growth

activities remain at minimum during winter. As the temperature starts rising

from February onwards, the reserve food material (carbohydrate) is mobilized,

which helps in growth flushes. Thus, in February the cuttings are full of

reserve food materials. The mobilization of carbohydrates and rising

temperature in February stimulates sprouting and rooting. Thus, vegetative

propagation can be done more easily in February as compared to the other

months of the year during which the cuttings were planted.

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Callus tissue plays an important role in vegetative propagation (Satoo,

1956). In this experiment callus formation might have failed probably due to

lack of sufficient food reserve, unfavorable temperature and moisture, and

some internal factors as reported by Bonga & Durzan (1982).

During vegetative propagation early growth of sprouts depends on food

reserve available in the cuttings (Wright 1975) followed by shoot formation.

However, where root formation lags very much behind shoot formation,

survival rate becomes very low and the plant is likely to die (Duguma 1988). In

this study good sprouting was observed in some treatments but root formation

did not take place. According to Adriance and Brison (1955) low

carbohydrate/N ratio encourages better shoot growth but poor root formation.

Thai (1977) reported flagging (drying of shoots) in Palaquium maingayi

cuttings. He suggested that early shoot formation might have an unfavorable

effect on root formation because this creates a competitive relation between

root and shoot formation for nutrient reserve in the cuttings. The causes of

failure of the rooting in the sprouts emerging from the stem cuttings of

Rudraksh and the mechanism to overcome this problem need further

investigation. A thorough understanding of these aspects may be helpful in

devising techniques that may augment vegetative propagation in this rare

species, which shows poor germination.