# Propagation of pistachio Pistacia vera L. by air layering under the effects of IBA and GA3 treatments

Ibrahim Maaroof Noori, Faraidwn Karim, Rasul Rafiq Aziz, Aram Akram Mohammed

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Ibrahim Maaroof Noori, Faraidwn Karim, Rasul Rafiq Aziz, Aram Akram Mohammed. Propagation of pistachio Pistacia vera L. by air layering under the effects of IBA and GA3 treatments. EurAsian Journal of BioSciences, 2019, 13, pp.2001-2004. hal-04044758

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# Propagation of pistachio *Pistacia vera* L. by air layering under the effects of IBA and GA<sub>3</sub> treatments

Ibrahim Maarof Noori <fnref n="1" />*, Faraidwn Karim Ahmad <fnref n="2" />, Rasul Rafiq Aziz <fnref n="2" />, Aram Akram Mohammed <fnref n="3" />

**Abstract**

This research was conducted in the College of Agricultural Sciences Engineering, University of Sulaimani, Kurdistan region/Iraq, to study the possibility of propagation of pistachio *Pistacia vera* cv. Batoury by air layering through treating the girdling wounds with IBA, and spray of layered shoots with IBA and GA<sub>3</sub>. The experiment was laid out by RCBD design with three replications on six trees. 20000 ppm IBA applied to the girdling wounds of layered shoots gave values of rooting percentage (63%), root number (4.6), root length (5.7 cm) and survival percentage (80%), while control gave no rooting. The rooting percentage of (33.4%) was achieved from layered shoots without spray and from those sprayed by 25 and 50 ppm IBA. A survival percentage of (50%) was achieved from layered shoots sprayed by 25, 50 ppm IBA and 30 ppm GA<sub>3</sub>. Interaction of 20000 ppm IBA treatment of girdling wound with 25 and 50 ppm IBA spray of layered shoots and without spray gave (70%) rooting percentage. 20000 ppm IBA treatment of girdling wound with spray of layered shoots by 25, 50 ppm IBA and 30 ppm GA<sub>3</sub> showed the highest (100%) survival percentage.

**Keywords:** propagation, pistachio, *Pistacia vera*, air layering, IBA, GA<sub>3</sub> treatments

Noori IM, Ahmad FK, Aziz RR, Mohammed AA (2019) Propagation of pistachio *Pistacia vera* L. by air layering under the effects of IBA and GA<sub>3</sub> treatments. Eurasia J Biosci 13: 2001-2004.

© 2019 Noori et al.

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License.

## INTRODUCTION

The best way for propagating *Pistacia vera* L. is vegetative propagation method, because *Pistacia vera* is a dioecious fruit, male and female flowers are produced on different trees, and the sex type of the trees could be determined through this method in which the new produced clones preserve their genetic properties as in the stock plant. Inefficient methods of vegetative propagation in pistachio have limited plantation expansion (Tilkat et al. 2009). Vegetative propagation of pistachio remains difficult, because pistachio trees are heterogeneous and cuttings of them are difficult to root, despite commercial varieties are propagated by grafting and budding onto rootstocks, but they are slow and the presence of resin impedes the union of the scion and rootstock (Barghchi and Alderson 1983, Chatibi et al. 1994, Filatov et al. 2018, Hall 1975, Joley and Opits 1971, Kvon et al. 2017, Yorov et al. 2019, Zaitseva et al. 2018). However, *Pistacia vera* is propagated by tissue culture, but it is expensive and requires many equipment and facilities.

Alternatively, propagation by layering is another vegetative method which is used to propagate difficult-

to-root species, in which adventitious roots induced to form on stems still attached to mother plant (Beyl and Trigiano 2016). For propagating pistachio species by layering, Dunn and Cole (1995) reported the possibility of propagating *Pistacia chinensis* successfully by mound layering.

Air layering is one of the types of propagation layering used in deciduous fruits. Fruit trees such as peaches, plums, cherries, pomegranates and figs were successfully propagated by this method (Moreira et al. 2009, Patel et al. 2012, Reddy et al. 2014). Interruption of phloem and hence the accumulation of carbohydrates, proteins, root-promoting factors, auxins and ethylene at girdling area, also increasing the cellular activities such as higher respiratory rate and formation of callus, which consequently led to root formation, are the principles of plant propagation by layering (Hartmann et al. 2011). Castro and Silveira (2003) reported that IBA was an effective factor for rooting in air layering propagation of peach when it was applied to the

Received: January 2019
Accepted: August 2019
Printed: December 2019

<footnote n="1">¹ PhD, Assistant Professor, Pomology, University of Sulaimani, College of Agricultural Sciences Engineering, Department of Horticulture, IRAQ</footnote>

<footnote n="2">² MSc, Lecturer, Pomology, University of Sulaimani, College of Agricultural Sciences Engineering, Department of Horticulture, IRAQ</footnote>

<footnote n="3">³ MSc, Assistant Lecturer, Plant Propagation, University of Sulaimani, College of Agricultural Sciences Engineering, Department of Horticulture, IRAQ</footnote>

<footnote>*Corresponding author: ibrahim.nwri@univsul.edu.iq</footnote>
<table><caption>**Table 1.** Effect of IBA treatment of girdling wounds of *Pistacia vera* L. cv. Batoury layered shoots as propagated by air layering</caption><thead><tr><th>Girdling wound treatments</th><th>Rooting%</th><th>Root number</th><th>Root length (cm)</th><th>Survival %</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>Control</td><td>0.00 b †</td><td>0.00 b</td><td>0.00 b</td><td>0.00 b</td></tr><tr><td>20000 IBA</td><td>63.00 a</td><td>4.10 a</td><td>4.80 a</td><td>80.00 a</td></tr></tbody></table>

wounding area by dropping. On the other hand, Davies and Hartmann (1988) denoted that spray of the stock plant by plant growth regulators (PGRs) improved physiological states of propagules to form adventitious roots. Also, Read and Yang (1989) summarized that PGRs applied to stock plant enhanced rooting of macropropagules and micropropagules. In this regard, Pacholczak et al. (2005) mentioned that spraying stock plants with IBA or NAA in the range of concentrations of 50-500 mg dm⁻³ were effective in propagation of ornamental shrubs by stem cuttings. Moreover, pre-treatment of gibberellin (GA₃) for stock plant improved rooting and shoot growth rates in cuttings of *Prunus avium* (Ford et al. 2002). Therefore, the aim of this study is to evaluate air layering of *Pistacia vera* under the effects of treatments of girdling wound with and without IBA and spray of layered shoots with IBA and GA₃.

## MATERIALS AND METHODS

This research was conducted to investigate the possibility of propagation of pistachio *Pistacia vera* L. cv. Batoury by air layering through treating the girdled wounds with and without IBA, and spray of layered shoots with IBA and GA₃ in the College of Agricultural Sciences Engineering, University of Sulaimani, Kurdistan region/ Iraq. The experiment was laid out by RCBD design with three replications on six trees (two males and four females), each two trees were considered as one block.

One-year-old shoots with 0.9-1.3 cm in diameter were girdled on April 1, 2018 by removing 1 cm of the barks at 25 cm length from the shoot tips, the girdled wounds were treated with (0 and 20000 ppm IBA) by dissolving IBA in 50% ethanol, then the girdled wounds were enclosed with moist peat and wrapped by polyethylene bags then covered to prevent penetration of light. After a week, the layered shoots were sprayed by (0, 30, 50 ppm GA₃ and 25, 50 ppm IBA) with 15 days interval until July 1. Every 30 days, 30 ml of water were added to the peat around girdling region by a syringe.

On July 1, the study was terminated and the layered shoots were excised from the containers to observe and measurement of the propagation parameters (rooting percentage, number of the main roots and length of the longest root). After that, the excised shoots transplanted to the plastic bag contained peat + perlite + sand by 2:1:1, and placed in a greenhouse with 23-34 °C. After 50 days, survival percentages were calculated.

## RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

According to the results showed in **Table 1**, 20000 ppm IBA applied to the girdling wound of layered shoots of *Pistacia vera* L. cv. Batoury was more effective and gave (63%) rooting percentage, and the same IBA concentration gave the best root number (4.1), root length (4.8 cm) and survival percentage (80%). While control gave no rooting. These results may be due to that the wounds made by girdling facilitated the penetration of IBA into rooting initiation zone in which induced cell division and root formation (Prolingis et al. 1999). Cameron (1970) also found the accumulation of photosynthates at the root initiation site, as a result of girdling which was enhanced by application of IBA to the base of the girdled *Pinus radiata* shoots. In another research, Van der Krieken et al. (1993) reported that application of exogenous IBA improved rooting via increasing internal free IBA, converted IBA to physiologically active IAA, or may synergistically modify the action or endogenous synthesis of IAA Simelane et al. (2016).

**Table 2** shows that the highest value of rooting percentage (33.4%) was achieved from layered shoots without spray and from those sprayed by 25 and 50 ppm IBA, whereas GA₃ spray gave (20.2%) rooting percentage. The best survival percentage (50%) was achieved from layered shoots sprayed by 25, 50 ppm IBA and 30 ppm GA₃, this may be due to those shoots gave the best root numbers (4.00, 2.12 and 3.00, respectively as shown in the same table), thereby more nutrients could be absorbed, this is supported by Singh and Bhuj (2000) who mentioned that the higher survival percentage of layered guava may relate to maximum root characters (number, length and diameter of roots). While, the effect of IBA spray may be attributed to the results achieved by Kroin (2009) who noticed that leaves can take aqueous auxins from a solution which contained free auxin through stomatal pores, and transported by vascular system like natural auxins, accumulated and utilized at the basal end, when it used for root initiation. Whereas, the effect of GA₃ spray on layered shoots may be attributed to that GA₃ worked through increasing endogenous IAA, in this aspect, Law and Hamilton (1984) found that GA₃ spraying increased endogenous IAA in dwarf peas by 8-fold. Furthermore, Wang et al. (1995) demonstrated that application of GA₃ can promote xylem and phloem production, provided and elevated IAA at cambial region. Additionally, photosynthates accumulated in stem is controlled by using GA₃ (Hayes and Patrick 1985).

<footnote>† The values in each column with the same letter do not differ significantly (P≤0.05) according to Duncan's Multiple Range Test.</footnote>
<table><caption>**Table 2.** Effect of IBA and GA<sub>3</sub> spray of layered shoots of *Pistacia vera* L. cv. Batoury as propagated by air layering</caption><thead><tr><th>Layered shoot sprays</th><th>Rooting%</th><th>Root number</th><th>Root length (cm)</th><th>Survival%</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>Without spray</td><td>33.40 a †</td><td>1.42 bc</td><td>3.08 a</td><td>25.00 b</td></tr><tr><td>25 ppm IBA</td><td>33.40 a</td><td>4.00 a</td><td>2.81 a</td><td>50.00 a</td></tr><tr><td>50 ppm IBA</td><td>33.40 a</td><td>2.12 b</td><td>3.27 a</td><td>50.00 a</td></tr><tr><td>30 ppm GA<sub>3</sub></td><td>20.20 b</td><td>3.00 a</td><td>2.92 a</td><td>50.00 a</td></tr><tr><td>50 ppm GA<sub>3</sub></td><td>20.20 b</td><td>0.60 c</td><td>2.25 a</td><td>25.00 b</td></tr></tbody></table>

<table><caption>**Table 3.** Interaction effects of IBA treatment of girdling wound and spray of *Pistacia vera* L. cv. Batoury layered shoots by IBA and GA<sub>3</sub> as propagated by air layering</caption><thead><tr><th>Girdling wound treatments</th><th>Layered shoot sprays</th><th>Rooting%</th><th>Root number</th><th>Root length (cm)</th><th>Survival%</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td rowspan="6">Control</td><td>Without spray</td><td>0.00 c †</td><td>0.00 c</td><td>0.00 c</td><td>0.00 c</td></tr><tr><td>25 ppm IBA</td><td>0.00 c</td><td>0.00 c</td><td>0.00 c</td><td>0.00 c</td></tr><tr><td>50 ppm IBA</td><td>0.00 c</td><td>0.00 c</td><td>0.00 c</td><td>0.00 c</td></tr><tr><td>30 ppm GA<sub>3</sub></td><td>0.00 c</td><td>0.00 c</td><td>0.00 c</td><td>0.00 c</td></tr><tr><td>50 ppm GA<sub>3</sub></td><td>0.00 c</td><td>0.00 c</td><td>0.00 c</td><td>0.00 c</td></tr><tr><td>Without spray</td><td>70.00 a</td><td>3.10 b</td><td>6.17 ab</td><td>50.00 b</td></tr><tr><td rowspan="4">20000 ppm IBA</td><td>25 ppm IBA</td><td>70.00 a</td><td>8.00 a</td><td>5.62 ab</td><td>100.00 a</td></tr><tr><td>50 ppm IBA</td><td>70.00 a</td><td>4.20 b</td><td>6.55 a</td><td>100.00 a</td></tr><tr><td>30 ppm GA<sub>3</sub></td><td>45.00 b</td><td>5.80 ab</td><td>5.85 ab</td><td>100.00 a</td></tr><tr><td>50 ppm GA<sub>3</sub></td><td>45.00 b</td><td>1.14 bc</td><td>4.50 ab</td><td>50.00 b</td></tr></tbody></table>

Interaction effects of IBA treatment of girdling wound and spray of layered shoots of *Pistacia vera* L. with IBA and GA<sub>3</sub> are shown in **Table 3** which demonstrates that the interaction of 20000 IBA treatment of girdling wound with 25 and 50 ppm IBA sprays of layered shoots and without spray gave the highest values (70%) of rooting percentages, while 20000 IBA treatment of girdling wound with 30 and 50 ppm GA<sub>3</sub> sprays of layered shoots gave (45%) rooting percentage. The highest root number (8.00) was achieved from interaction of 20000 IBA treatment of girdling wound with spray of layered shoots by 25 ppm IBA. Interaction effects of the two factors were not significant on root length. Interaction effects of 20000 IBA treatment of girdling wound with spray of layered shoots by 25, 50 ppm IBA and 30 ppm GA<sub>3</sub> showed the highest (100%) survival percentage. Control (girdling wounds without IBA treatment) gave no

results either with spray treatments or without spray of layered shoots Peluola-Adeyemi et al. (2016).

## CONCLUSION

IBA is more significant in the air layering propagation of *Pistacia vera* L. cv. Batoury by treating the girdling wound of layered shoots. 20000 ppm IBA gave (63%) rooting percentage, while the control treatment gave no rooting. Layered shoots sprayed with 25 or 50 ppm IBA and those without IBA sprays showed (33.4%) rooting percentage. The highest rooting percentage (70%) was achieved from interaction of 20000 IBA treatment of girdling wound with 25 and 50 ppm IBA spray of layered shoots and without spray. It is important to mention that IBA treatment in a high concentration during layering is recommended instead of low concentration sequential spray treatments.

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<footnote>† The values in each column with the same letter do not differ significantly (P≤0.05) according to Duncan's Multiple Range Test.</footnote>

<footnote>† The values in each column with the same letter do not differ significantly (P≤0.05) according to Duncan's Multiple Range Test.</footnote>
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