Estimation of correlation coefficient and effect of different growth regulators and potting media on survival and growth parameters of G₄₈ poplar clone

The study was conducted on the effect of different growth regulators and potting media on morphological and biomass traits of G₄₈ clone of poplar in the Forest Nursery and Research Centre (School of Forestry and Environment) of Sam Higginbottom Institute of Agriculture Technology and Sciences, Allahabad, UP. The cuttings were obtained with 15 cm length and without any branches and flowers. The experiment was laid out in Completely Randomized Design (CRD). There were six treatments including control replicated four times in which control (distilled water) and growth regulators IBA (100 ppm), IAA (100 ppm), NAA (100 ppm), GA₃ (100 ppm), 2,4-D (100 ppm) were used with 10 cuttings per replication. Among the different treatments T₁ (IBA 100 ppm) proved to be the most effective growth regulator which gave better results with respect to diameter, leaf area, number of roots, shoot length, root length, shoot fresh weight, root fresh weight, root dry weight and total biomass compared to control and other treatments. Hence it can be recommended that IBA was the most effective growth regulator among the all treatments. In potting media there were seven treatments with three replications and the combinations were control soil, soil:FYM:sand 1:1:1, soil:FYM: neem cake 1:1:1, soil:FYM:vermicompost 1:1:1, neem cake:sand: vermicompost 1:1:1, neem cake:soil:vermicompost 1:1:1 and neem cake:FYM:vermicompost 1:1:1. Among all potting media combinations most effective treatment was T₁ (soil:sand:FYM 1:1:1) which showed better results in sprouts/cutting, survival percentage, diameter, leaf area, shoot dry weight, root fresh weight as compared to control or other treatments. Therefore it can be recommended that the combination of (soil:sand:FYM 1:1:1) was an effective treatment for the growth of poplar cuttings. It was concluded that IBA with 100 ppm and combination of soil:sand:FYM 1:1:1 can be recommended to obtain best growth and development for poplar cuttings.