Effects of stem-cutting wounding, indole-3-butyric acid, and ethephon on the growth and flowering of geranium (Pelargonium x hortorum) softwood cuttings
Department of Horticulture, College of Agriculture Engineering Sciences, University of Duhok, Kurdistan region, Iraq, Corresponding e-mail: chanarmohammed@uod.ac, jihad.hasan@uod.ac, layla.mohammed@uod.ac,
DOI: https://doi.org/10.37855/jah.2026.v28i02.64
The present study was executed on Pelargonium x hortorum, which used three effective factors that were examined, which are wounding of stem cuttings at two levels (wounded or non-wounded), indole-3-butyric acid (IBA) at three concentrations (0, 500, and 1000 mgL-1) and three levels of ethephon (0, 100, and 200 mgL-1) to assess their influence on vegetative and flowering characteristics. This study was conducted through a 2 × 3 × 3 factorial experiment arranged in an RCBD with three replications. The recorded data on the parameters studied revealed that the wounding significantly increased in the plant survival percentage (92.79%), plant height (15.04 cm), number of branches (7.88), canopy height (12.87 cm) and shoot fresh weight (8.85 g) from the positive response of cuttings to wounding practice. At the same time, applying IBA at 1000 mgL-1 caused the maximum number of branches and fresh shoot weight. In contrast, the highest canopy heights were obvious from the effect of 500 mgL-1. Furthermore, ethephon at 200 mgL-1 produced the highest number of branches (7.98) and canopy height (13.812 cm).
