Propagação por estaquia de clones de erva-mate Cambona

Abstract

The ‘Cambona 4’ yerba mate stands out for high productivity and mild flavor of the raw material achieved. Saplings were obtained from the controlled crossing of a female and a male plant; both selected in Machadinho, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. To guarantee even more a uniform and productive yerba mate planting, cutting is a propagation alternative. The aim of this study was to evaluate, in two different periods (summer/autumn and autumn/winter), the rooting capacity of apical and subapical cuttings of six yerba mate ‘Cambona 4’ clones (C7, C8, C9, C10, C11 and C13), treated with 2.000 mg/kg of indolebutyric acid (IBA) powder. The experimental design occurred in randomized blocks, with four replications and eight cuttings per section. The length of cuttings was standardized in 10 cm, keeping one pair of leaves cut in half. The cutting was conducted in an agricultural greenhouse, with irrigation by intermittent nebulization and the cuttings were placed in plastic tubes containing carbonized rice husk, in order to root. After 120 days, it was verified that the retention of the leaves has positively influenced the cuttings survival. The rooting potential of each clone has shown to be influenced by the cutting period, but for the most clones the rate was higher when performed in summer/autumn. The rooting was higher in subapical cuttings of clones C8, C9, C11 and C13 (78,2% to 90,6%), with the summer/autumn cutting, meanwhile in the autumn/winter period both apical and subapical cuttings didn’t differ from each other, presenting the highest rooting percentage the clones C7, C10, C11 and C13 (59,4% to 75,0%).