Influence of Different Growing Media and Plant Growth Regulators on Rhizogenesis of Dragon Fruit [Selenicereus undatus (Haw.) D.R. Hunt] Cuttings

Abstract

The most prevalent and cost-effective approach to propagate dragon fruit is via cuttings, as it is grown vegetatively. Dragon fruit can also be propagated using seeds, a straightforward method; however, seedlings produced this way may not be true to type due to cross pollination and fertilization. A study was carried out at the Horticulture Research Farm of the Department of Horticulture, School of Agricultural Science and Technology, Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University, Lucknow (U.P.), India in the year 2024-2025. Dragon fruit cuttings were subjected to various growing media and plant growth regulators.The design of the experiment was Factorial Completely Randomized Design with 18 treatment combinations and three replications. The data revealed that the cuttings grown in media M2- Soil: Sand: Cocopeat: Vermicompost (1:1:1:1) performed significantly better than media M1- Soil: Sand: Cocopeat: FYM (1:1:1:1). Among the application of different plant growth regulators, IBA @ 6000 ppm recorded minimum days to root initiation (18.28 days), maximum number of roots per cutting (20.29), maximum length of root per cutting (25.03 cm), maximum diameter of root (2.09 mm), maximum fresh weight of roots (2.96 g), maximum dry weight of roots (0.87 g) and maximum root volume (2.03 cc) per cuttings. Thus, the study revealed that the application of IBA @ 6000 ppm and media M2- Soil: Sand: Cocopeat: Vermicompost (1:1:1:1) had significant effect on improving rooting of dragon fruit cuttings.