Large cuttings of camu-camu with indolebutyric acid for clonal production

Abstract

The fruit of camu-camu is attractive because of its high vitamin C content (877 to 6113 mg/100 g of pulp). Its propagation normally is by seed, which segregate for different characteristics of commercial interest; hence a vegetative propagation method would allow better uniformity. This study evaluated the effect of indolebutyric acid - AIB (0 and 200 mg L-1) on the rooting of young branches of camu-camu (5, 10 and 20 cm in length and 2 to 3 cm in diameter). The 20 cm long cuttings with AIB application were most appropriate for production of camu-camu clones, with 50% successfully formed (sprouts + root). AIB had a positive effect in the development of root number (with AIB - 12; without AIB - 1), root length (with AIB - 11 cm; without AIB - 4 cm) and rooted cuttings (with AIB - 58%; without AIB - 5%), but negative in sprout number (with AIB - 1.0; without AIB - 1.8) and cuttings sproued (with AIB - 22%; without AIB - 49%). The 20 cm long cuttings had 2.0 sprouts and 55% cuttings sprouted, while the 10 cm cuttings had 1.1 sprouts and 33%, and the 5 cm had 1.1 sprouts and 19%.