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ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Corvallis, Oregon » Horticultural Crops Research Unit » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #333432
Title: Comparing vegetative propagation of two ‘Schipkaensis’ common cherrylaurel ploidy levels

Author
item SCHULZE, JUSTIN - Oregon State University
item CONTRERAS, RYAN - Oregon State University
item Scagel, Carolyn

Submitted to: HortTechnology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 11/15/2016
Publication Date: 2/1/2017
Citation: Schulze, J.A., Contreras, R.N., Scagel, C.F. 2017. Comparing vegetative propagation of two ‘Schipkaensis’ common cherrylaurel ploidy levels. HortTechnology. 27(1):69-72. doi: 10.21273/HORTTECH03600-16.

Interpretive Summary: Prunus laurocerasus ‘Schipakensis’ is an important nursery crop across the United States. In our breeding efforts to reduce shothole disease and escape from cultivation, we developed chromosome doubled forms of this cultivar. Vegetative propagation is an rate limiting step in nursery production of many plants, and few studies have looked at comparative rooting of induced polyploids. This research determined whether rooting ability varied between varied between cuttings from normal (22x) and polyploid (44x) plants. Poor rooting ability during vegetative propagation of the polyploid cultivar would limit it's potential for adoption by the nursery industry. Our results indicate that there are no apparent detrimental effects to rooting cuttings following inducing higher level polyploids of ‘Schipkaensis’ cherrylaurel. This indicates that this polyploidy will not alter the efficiency of vegetative propagation during nursery production.

Technical Abstract: Prunus laurocerasus ‘Schipakensis’ is an important nursery crop across the United States. In our breeding efforts to reduce shothole disease and escape from cultivation, we developed chromosome doubled forms of this cultivar. Vegetative propagation is an important factor that limits cultivar adoption in nursery production, and few studies have looked at comparative rooting of induced polyploids. The objective of this research was to determine if rooting ability varied between these two cytotypes. Softwood cuttings (3 to 5 node) from normal (22x) and polyploid (44x) cytotypes were taken at the end of July 2015 and the beginning of July 2016. Cuttings were dipped in 1000 ppm indole-3-butyric acid (IBA) and 500 ppm 1-naphthaleneacetic acid before sticking into the rooting substrate. After 1 month, cuttings were removed from substrate and the number of cuttings with roots and the number of roots and root length per cutting were measured. In 2015, 88% of the cuttings from the 44x plants and 63% of the cuttings from the 22x rooted. In 2016, all cuttings from both cytotypes rooted. In both years, average root length and total root length per cutting were similar between cytotypes; however, cuttings from 22x plants generally had more roots than those from 44x plants in 2015. Overall, chromosome doubled P. laurocerasus ‘Schipkaensis’ proved to root effectively, and with similar quality when compared to the standard cytotype. This indicates that the polyploidy of this cytotype will not alter the efficiency of vegetative propagation during nursery production.