Effect of Growing Season, PGRs and Rooting Media on Survival of Hard Wood Stem Cuttings of Lemon (Citrus limon Burm.) cv. Pant Lemon-1

The present investigation was carried out at Horticulture Research Centre, Patharchatta, G. B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar during September 2013 to April 2014. The experiment consisted of fifty six treatment combinations, which comprised of seasons viz., rainy and spring season, PGR concentrations viz., IBA 500 ppm, NAA 500 ppm, IBA 500 ppm+ NAA 500 ppm and control and seven growing media viz; Soil, Soil+FYM, Soil+Vermi compost, Soil+Cocopeat, Soil+Sand+FYM, Soil+Sand+Vermi compost and Soil+Sand+Cocopeat. The experiment replicated thrice with 10 cuttings in each treatment and treated cuttings were planted in 300 CC capacity root trainers under shade net. The results indicated that among the various treatments, rainy season planted cuttings showed better results for most of root and growth parameters studied including higher survival percentage (77.37 %). Similarly, higher shoot and root growth characters were recorded with IBA 500 ppm in comparison to other treatments. Among seven growing media, Soil+Sand+FYM improved survival percentage (82.33%), average dry weight of cutting (8.05 g) and reduced the thickness of roots (1.08 mm) while higher rooting percentage (64.26%), number of primary (9.03) and secondary roots (16.67), average length of longest root (7.81 cm), length of sprout (7.10 cm) and average fresh weight of cutting (12.24 g) were recorded with Soil+Sand+Cocopeat.