Blueberries can be propagated by a variety of methods such as seeds, suckers, micropropagation and cuttings. Commercially, most propagation is done by cutting, providing different results depending on the cultivar. Thus, the objective of this research was to evaluate the indolebutyric acid (IBA) effect on rooting of semi-hardwood cuttings of blueberry cultivars Delite and Bluebelle collected on December/2005. Four-node segments with 6 mm approximately, containing 2 upper leaves cut in half were taken from main branches of irrigated plants. After preparation, the cuttings were treated with IBA at 0, 1000, 2000 or 4000 mg L-1 , and immediately inserted into rooting media (washed thick sand) under intermittent micro-sprinkler irrigation. The experimental design was a complete randomized block with four replications of ten cuttings. A hundred and twenty days after the experiment installation, Bluebelle provided large number and length of both roots and shoots, and had a rooting percent of 37.5%, whether applying IBA at 1000 mg L-1. The cultivar Delite showed high facility to emit roots and shoots, regardless to IBA presence, showing more than 82.5% of rooted cuttings.
propagation; cutting; phytoregulator; Delite; Bluebelle
