Original article

Evaluation of the rooting of cuttings of Carapa guianensis Aublet. in response to the type of planting and the development phase

0000-0003-2185-3945Darío Antonio Murillo Barahona¹  , 0000-0002-0503-837XJhon Jerley Torres-Torres^{2  *}  , 0000-0001-7959-4646Leyser Rengifo Murillo³ 

¹Universidad Tecnológica del Chocó, Facultad de Ingeniería, Grupo de Investigación Sistemas Productivos. Colombia

²Universidad Tecnológica del Chocó, Facultad de Ingeniería, Grupo de Investigación Ciencia Animal y Recursos Agroforestales, Quibdó, Colombia.

³Universidad Tecnológica del Chocó, Facultad de Ingeniería, Grupo de Investigación Sistemas Productivos. Colombia.

ABSTRACT

The cutting down of forests has caused the densities of C. guianensis to have decreased significantly in the Colombian Pacific. For this reason, the rooting of its cuttings was evaluated in response to the type of planting and the development phase. Cuttings were collected from branches with herbaceous, semi-woody and woody development phases. The harvested cuttings were immersed in ascorbic acid and preserved in moistened newspaper. Sowing was carried out in six germination beds; three using a substrate and three outdoors. The rooting substance was hormonegro 1 (0.05 g/stake). A randomized factorial design was used, composed of three factors (rooting hormone, planting site and cutting development phase). Monitoring was carried out every eight days. A rooting rate of 37.5 % was obtained, which was not significantly affected by the type of cutting used (herbaceous = 38.5 %, semi-woody = 32.3 and woody = 41.7 %), while the place of Sowing did have an effect on the rooting of the cuttings (organic substrate eras = 27.1 % and in- temperature soil = 47.9 %). It is concluded that cuttings from woody branches turn out to be the most suitable for the propagation of C. guianensis, because it experienced a better rooting response and survival in the evaluated treatments.

Key words: tree species; cutting; rooting hormone; Güino; vegetative propagation.

INTRODUCTION

The development phase of woody plants is a very important issue in the management of tropical forests ^{(Jeník, 1994)}. This factor together with the type of sowing determine various aspects, such as the capacity for vegetative propagation, the rate and form of growth, as well as the quality and speed of root formation ^{(Wendling and Xavier, 2001)}. It is therefore crucial to identify in which phase of development the greatest propagation success is achieved, as this has direct implications on the effectiveness of vegetative propagation and other stages of forestry ^{(Sasaki, 2008)}.

However, to present day there is little information on the characteristics that favor the propagation of many tropical forest species ^{(Tarnowski, 2021)}, among which Carapa guianensis Aublet stands out, which due to its attractive characteristics has been overexploited in natural forests of the Colombian Pacific, which has directly affected its presence in these ecosystems ^{(Klínger et al., 2011}; ^{Martínez et al., 2015)}.

The main limitations in the propagation of C. guianensis are due to the fact that its seeds are recalcitrant, which causes them to lose viability quickly after dispersal or harvest ^{(Magnitskiy and Plaza, 2007}; ^{Bacca et al., 2021)}. Likewise, the phenological processes of this species are asynchronous, which makes it difficult to obtain and collect exact seeds and fruits ^{(Morales-Puentes, 1997)}. Furthermore, in regions such as the Colombian Pacific, there are no in situ or ex situ germplasm banks that contain plant material throughout the year, which limits the research, propagation and management of the species ^{(Román et al., 2012}; ^{Rivers et al., 2017)}.

In this way, the propagation of this species is still an unclarified process ^{(Bacca et al., 2021)}, so understanding the effect that the type of planting and the development phase has on the rooting process of the cuttings, could contribute to increasing the prospects for successful propagation of adult trees, which will result in greater efficiency in the selection, improvement and propagation process ^{(Wendling and Xavier, 2001)}. Therefore, the objective of this study was to evaluate the rooting of cuttings from C. guianensis in response to the type of planting and the development phase

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Study area

The research was carried out in the back part of block eight (8) of the Technological University of Chocó "Diego Luís Córdoba", located in the municipality of Quibdó, central part of the Chocó Biogeographic, under the coordinates 05°40'56,43'' N and 76°38'51.9'' W (Figure 1). It is located in the Tropical Rainforest (Bp-T) life zone, which is characterized by having an average temperature of 28^ºC, average annual precipitation of 10,000 mm, relative humidity of 90 % and an altitude of 43 meters above sea level ^{(Alcaldía de Quibdó, 2020)}.

Fig. 1.  - Geographic location of the study area 

Vegetal material

C. guianensis tree branches were used (24 per development stage) from the Casa Blanca farm, located in the municipality of Cértegui, department of Chocó, Colombia (coordinates 05°21'27.1'' N and 76 °37'05.9'' W). The plant material was collected from five trees that had the following characteristics: trees 1, 2 and 3 (herbaceous) D_1.30 = 1 cm and total height 2.5 meters; tree 4 (semi-woody) with D_1.30 = 9.5 cm and total height of 8 meters and tree 5 D_1,30 = 65 cm and total height 20 meters.

Experimental design

A completely randomized design was used with three fixed factors (factorial), which were: 1) application and non-application of IBA (rooting hormone at a concentration of 0.05 g/stake), 2) planting site (in beds of rooting-organic substrate and weathering in the soil) and 3) development phase (herbaceous, semi-woody and woody). The combination of these resulted in 12 treatments with three repetitions each, for a total of 36 experimental units (group of eight cuttings) (Figure 2).

Adequacy of the area for rooting the cuttings

The present investigation was carried out in two different sites. The first consisted of an area of 16 m² (2 x 8 m), where six rooting beds measuring 1 m long by 1 m wide were built. To protect this site, a 2 m wide by 8 m long shelter was built and covered with black plastic. The other part of the experiment was established in an area adjacent to a 20 x 30 m home garden. At this site the cuttings were planted directly in the ground without any type of cover (outdoors).

HCE =hormone-containing herbaceous cuttings in rooting beds; HSE =hormone-free herbaceous cuttings in rooting beds; SCE = semi-woody cuttings with hormone in rooting beds; SSE = semi-woody cuttings without hormone in rooting beds; LCE =woody cuttings with hormone in rooting beds; LSE = hormone-free woody cuttings in rooting beds; HCI = herbaceous cuttings with hormone outdoors; HSI =hormone-free herbaceous cuttings outdoors; SCI = semi-woody cuttings with hormone outdoors; SSI = semi-woody cuttings without hormone outdoors; LCI =woody cuttings with hormone outdoors; LSI =woody cuttings without hormone outdoors

Fig. 2.  - Graphic representation of the experimental design 

Management of stakes and organic substrates

The cuttings were done to 30 cm in length and grouped according to their development phase. Subsequently, they were immersed in an ascorbic acid solution and wrapped in moistened newspaper. This material was transported to the Technological University of Chocó in fique sacks; where it was disinfected using a solution of 1% sodium hypochlorite and water, for 10 minutes, then they were washed three times with distilled water and finally a fungicide (Antracol) was applied to prevent the presence of fungi.

As an organic substrate, a combination of decomposed sawdust and sand in a 2:1 ratio was used, which were acquired in the study area. For disinfection, boiling water was used (temperature of 100ºC), with which the substrate was moistened. Subsequently, the mixture was covered with black plastic for 24 hours ^{(Pinilla et al., 2016}; ^{Torres-Torres et al., 2018b)}

Planting of plant material and monitoring

Sowing was carried out taking into account the development phase of the cuttings of the C. guianensis species (herbaceous, semi-woody and woody). The most mature part was impregnated with rooting powder (hormone 1 0.05 g/stake). The cuttings were planted in polyethylene bags at a depth of 10 cm.

The planted material was monitored every eight days. During this process, weed control (manual) and pest control (termites and leafhopper ant) were carried out. In addition, irrigation was applied once a day ^{(Rengifo and Torres-Torres, 2016}; ^{Torres-Torres et al., 2018a}; ^{Torres-Torres et al., 2018c)}. Root length measurements were made with a tape measure.

Variables evaluated

The following evaluation parameters were taken into account: rooting percentage (PE), survival percentage (PS), and root length. Specifically for the rooting percentage, the following Equation 1 was used:

$PE=\frac{EE}{ ES}*100$ (1)

Where:

PE	percentage of rooting of cuttings
EE	number of rooted cuttings
ES	number of stakes planted

Table 1.  - Rooting index 

Rooting rate	Rooting levels
0	Null
0.1- 0.9	Low
1	Half
1-1.9	High

The rooting index was defined taking into account the values presented in Table 1 and the calculation was carried out using the following Equation 2 and Equation 3 ^{(Aparicio et al., 2014)}

$In=\frac{\left(0*A\right)+\left(1*B\right)+\left(2*C\right)+\left(D*3\right)}{N° total de estacas}*100$ (2)

Where:

In	rooting index
A	unrooted cuttings
B	cuttings with 1 to 4 roots
C	cuttings with 5 to 8 roots
D	cuttings with 9 to 11 roots

$PS=\frac{EV}{EP}*100$ (3)

Where:

PS	Survival percentage
EV	number of live cuttings
EP	number of cuttings planted

Statistical analysis

The assumptions of normality were verified in the R environment, using the Shapiro-Wilks test. In the R environment, a three-way analysis of variance was performed to identify differences between treatments ^{(R Core Team, 2017}. For the factors with a difference, a Duncan multiple range test was applied for the 12 treatments and their 3 repetitions, using STARGRAPHICS 16.1.15 centurion XVI. Percentage formulas were applied for rooting and survival calculations ^{(Medina et al., 2020)}.

RESULTS

Rooting of C. guianensis

The results of the Shapiro-Wilks test (F= 2.960; P =0.014) indicate that the data are normally distributed.

The highest percentage of rooting was experienced in plant material planted outdoors, being statistically different to the rest (P < 0.05), using cuttings in the woody development phase and without applying hormonal rooting agent (41.7 %), while the lowest (27.1 %) was obtained in cuttings planted in rooting beds with substrate, in the herbaceous and semi-woody development phases without applying hormonal rooting agent (Figure 3; Table 2).

Note: Lines in bars mean standard deviation. Different letters indicate significant differences at P< 0.05

Fig. 3.  - Rooting percentage for (A) AIB Factor, (B) TP Factor and (C) MF Factor 

For its part, the results of the interaction between the sowing type factors (outdoors and in rooting beds-substrate-TP) and the application or not of hormonal rooting agent (AIB; F= 5.26; P= 0.029), are be non-significant, without ignoring that, when changing from application to non-application, the rooting percentage for cuttings planted outdoors increases and for cuttings planted in rooting beds it decreases (Table 2).

Table 2.  - Rooting (PE %), survival (PS %) and root length (LR) of cuttings by treatment used and interactions between factors 

Treatment		PE (%)	(%)	LR (mm)
AIB	Application	38.9 a	66.7 a	77.7 a
	Non- application	36.1 a	57.6 a	87.6 a
TP	Eras- substrate organic	27.1 a	52.1 a	46.0 a
	Outdoor in the floor	47.9b	72.2b	119.2b
MF	Herbaceous cuttings	38.5 a	66.7 a	84.1 a
	Semi-woody cuttings	32.3 a	57.3 a	61.2 a
	woody stakes	41.7 a	62.5 a	102.5b
Interactions
AIB vs TP		ns *	ns	ns
TP vs MF		ns	ns	ns
AIB vs MF		ns	ns	ns
AIB vs TP vs MF		ns	ns	ns

AIB: Application or not of rooting hormones, TP: Type of planting, MF: Development phase of the cuttings * non-significant interaction. Different letters in the same factor indicate significant differences at P<0.05

C. guianensis seedlings

The result of the analysis of variance suggests that the development phase factor (F=0.55; P=0.583) and the application or not of hormonal rooting (F=1.52; P=0.226) do not significantly affect the survival of the seedlings. However, for the type of sowing (outdoors and in rooting beds - substrate), significant differences were evident (F=7.58; P=0.010; Table 2).

The highest percentage of survival was obtained outdoors in the herbaceous development phase (72.2 %) with or without hormonal rooting agent (Table 2).

It is also observed that when changing from the application of hormonal rooting to non-application, the percentage of survival in the development phase of the herbaceous cuttings practically remains constant, but for the woody development phase, survival increases slightly, while for semi-woody cuttings decreases significantly, clarifying that these interactions are not significant (Table 2).

Root Length

It was observed that the type of sowing significantly affects the length of the roots (F=10.60; P=0.0027), that is, the average root length for C. guianensis varies from one type of sowing to another (X= 46 mm in beds with organic substrate and X = 119.2 mm outdoors) and not with the application of rooting (X = 77.7 mm with application and 87.6 mm without application).

Root production using woody cuttings (X = 102.5 mm) was significantly greater than that obtained using herbaceous (X = 84.1 mm) and semi-woody cuttings (X = 61.2 mm) (Table 2).

DISCUSSION

Rooting

Greater rooting was obtained in the woody cuttings, while for the herbaceous and semi-woody cuttings the value was lower. This result differs from that obtained in other research with conifers (^{Haffner et al., 1991}; ^{Mitchell et al., 2004b)}, in which it has been indicated that the younger the cuttings are, the greater their rooting will be and therefore, older woody material tends to reduce the rooting percentage.

According to ^{Aparicio-Rentería et al. (2014)}, the main limitation of the rooting process of seeds of forest species is the age of the tree from which the plant material comes and the part of the tree from which the cuttings are obtained. In the case of the present investigation, the cuttings were obtained from branches with less than seven months of formation, which may help to explain the differences previously mentioned.

In other observations Giraldo et al. (2009) have documented that tender or younger plant material requires the application of hormonal rooting to maximize success in the propagation of some species. This observation differs from what was obtained in the present investigation, in which the application or not of rooting did not have a direct effect on the rooting process of the planted cuttings, which could be related to the origin of the cuttings, the age of the tree where the plant material is obtained and the time the cuttings take from harvest to planting ^{(Mitchell et al., 2004a)}. Therefore, ^{Aparicio-Rentería et al. (2014)} have suggested that it is important not to store plant material for long periods of time and to use organic substrates similar to those found in the environment where the species grows.

A rooting index of 0.26 was obtained, which means that the level of rooting is low, this result being similar to that obtained by ^{Latsague et al. (2008)} , who also point out that this value tends to increase whenever semi-woody stakes are used.

C. guianensis seedlings

Better outdoor survival results were observed using herbaceous cuttings, which is different from what was suggested by ^{Mitchell et al. (2004a)}, who have suggested a negative effect of age on the survival of conifers, however, these same authors have indicated that the response of the cuttings to the development phase will depend on the species, since for example with In Pinus patula, greater survival is obtained using older woody cuttings, so it is inferred that this issue should be explored for each specific forest species to define patterns in the process of vegetative propagation.

Root length

It could be observed that the root length for C. guianensis, varies from one type of planting to another and not with the application of rooting agent, the best results being evident in that material planted outdoors. In this regard, ^{Mitchell et al. (2004a)} have indicated that in these cases the type of soil and its moisture content are fundamental in root growth. However, the high humidity experienced by soils in rainforest areas where a high amount of water is retained must be considered, which can favor or negatively affect the decomposition of forest material ^{(Serna-Mosquera et al., 2020)}. In this case, it seems that planting the cuttings outdoors turns out to favor root growth because it favors the entry of light that facilitates the evaporation of part of the water that does not percolate or leach ^{(Osorio, 2018)}.

CONCLUSIONS

Woody branch cuttings turn out to be the most suitable for the propagation of C. guianensis, since they do not require rooting hormones to achieve root regrowth for the survival of the plant. On the other hand, for herbaceous and semi-woody cuttings, rooting substance is required to fulfill this purpose and a sandy substrate.

The greatest root growth and survival of C. guianensis under vegetative propagation is obtained using woody branch cuttings without the application of rooting hormones and planted outdoors.

Thanks

This study was supported by the Technological University of Chocó, through the internal call for the strengthening of Research Groups valid 2022. The Authors express their gratitude to the UTCH for the support and loan of the facilities for the development of the research.

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Received: April 12, 2023; Accepted: August 16, 2023

^*Autor para la correspondencia: [e-mail]

Los autores declaran no tener conflictos de intereses.

Los autores han participado en la redacción del trabajo y análisis de los documentos