Growth And Aesthethics Characteristics Of Ixora As Influenced By Hormone Types And Concentration

Ixora coccinea is an evergreen ornamental shrub widely use in landscaping design, it is a perennial plant of the Rubiaceae family. It is propagated asexually. However, available evidence indicate that adventitious root formation is a key step in vegetative propagation of Ixora coccinea and problems associated with rooting of cuttings frequently result in significant economic losses. It is difficult to propagate and this affects the rate of its survival during propagation. Indole-3-Acetic Acid (IAA) and Indole-3-Butyric Acid (IBA) are plant hormones used for vegetative propagation of cuttings. The research was conducted at the Horticultural Nursery of the Department of Horticulture, Federal University of Technology, Gidan Kwano, Minna between May 2023 – December 2023.The treatment was arranged in a 2 by 4 factorial in completely randomized design (CRD) with five replications. The treatments used consist of two factors (i) hormone type and (ii) hormone concentration. Two different hormones, Indole-3-Acetic Acid and Indole-3-Butyric Acid were used at four different concentrations (0, 1000, 2000, and 3000 ml). Data were collected on number of sprouts cuttings, number of leaves, and flowers, leaf area and root dry matter. Data collected were subjected to Analysis of variance (ANOVA) using Genstat 12.0 version and treatment means were separated using the least significant difference (LSD) at (p ≤ 0.05). The control plants consistently produced the lowest growth throughout the research period. IBA hormone at 3000 ml produced the highest number of sprouts (19.38), highest number of leaves (30), highest number of flowers (6.49), broadest leaf (8.49 cm²) and heaviest root mass (3.51 g), closely followed by cutting soaked in IAA at 3000 ml (17.33, 24.8 l and 4.92 cm²) for number of sprouted cuttings, number of leaf and leaf area respectively while cuttings soaked in 1000 ml had the least growth in both IAA and IBA solutions throughout the period of the research. With the results obtained from this study, it is recommended that IBA at 3000 ml hormone concentration is optimal for growth performance of Ixora coccinea.