Softwood Cuttings can produce massive Seedlings in Dalbergia melanoxylon for Propagation
Dalbergia melanoxylon is a plant with valuable wood in the world and therefore is over harvested
for timber while its regeneration is very low. The propagation efforts by techniques such as tissue
culture or mycorrhiza have not been investigated which instigated conduction of this study. Soil
and cuttings were collected from Kilwa, Kilosa and Babati for rooting test, potting media and soil
characterization. The results showed that fresh soil improved rooting characteristics while
sterilized soil did not due to the presence of mycorrhiza in fresh soil compared to none in sterilized
media. The overall rooting in fresh soil in non-mist propagator was higher, 100% for softwood
and 37% for root cuttings while none rooted in the open nursery. The results revealed that there
was no significant correlation between rooting and collection sites while cutting type and the soil
type used significantly influenced rooting. Softwood cuttings that weighed less than 15g
significantly increased rooting at (P < 0.05) compared to cuttings that weighed above 15g. It was
recommended to propagate Dalbergia melanoxylon using softwood cuttings placed in a non-mist
propagator and using fresh soil infected with mycorrhiza.
Mkwawa University College of Education