RESPONSE OF DIFFERENT SOIL MEDIA COMBINATIONS ON SHOOT GROWTH OF DRAGON FRUIT CUTTINGSA.D. Ingole1, U.A. Raut1, S.P. Mahalle and Ajay KumarAbstract The aim of the present study was to study the response of different combinations of various soil media and to come up with the proper composition for better shoot growth along with the survival percentage on cuttings of dragon fruit. The experiment was set up with a completely randomized design of seven treatments with five replications. Treatments consisted of combinations, viz., T1-FYM, Sand and Soi; T2-FYM, Red Soil and Soil; T3-FYM, Silt and Soil; T4-Vermicompost Sand and Soil; T5-Vermicompost Red Soil and Soil; T6- Vermicompost Silt and Soil; with a ratio of 1:1:2 and T7 100%. Soil was used as a control. Representative cuttings were selected at random from each replication and were used to record data on different growth parameters. For successful propagation of dragon fruit cuttings, better performance in terms of shoot growth parameters, viz., shoot length (71.48 cm), shoot diameter (5.98 cm), fresh weight of shoot (126.48g), dry weight of shoot (22.28 g), number of sprouts per cutting (4.46), survival percentage (97.59%), and minimum days required to first sprout (33.2), was recorded in treatment T5, which was vermicompost, red soil, and soil in a ratio of 1:1:2. The present study was carried out at the Fruit Nursery, Department of Fruit Science, Dr. Panjabrao Deshmukh Krishi Vidypeeth, Akola. |