ASPECTS OF VEGETATIVE PROPAGATION IN VANILLA PLANIFOLIA Andrews

Vanilla planifolia Andrews is part of the Fam. Orchidaceae and is the only orchid of significant economic importance because vanillin is extracted from its fruits and seeds, a very expensive spice valued in the food and pharmaceutical, perfumery and cosmetic industries. This paper presents aspects related to the vegetative propagation of vanilla under the conditions of the greenhouses of the Botanical Garden of the University of Craiova. The vanilla plants from which the cuttings used for rooting were harvested are vanilla specimens existing in the collection of tropical and subtropical plants of the botanical garden. Four types of linen substrates were used: Mt - tree bark; V1- pearlite; V2- fibrous peat; V3- mold leaf and the cuttings were fragments of a shoot with two nodes. Because of the stability, the most suitable substrates for the rooting of the cuttings and the development of the formed roots were found to be those composed of perlite (V1) and fibrous peat (V2). Rooted cuttings were potted in a substrate mixture of forest moss and fibrous peat. The plants thus had a good evolution, their survival rate being 100%.