Effect of Media and Naphthalene Acetic Acid Application on Rooting , Growth and Flowering of Carnation (Dianthus caryophyllus L.)

An experiment was conducted at the lath house of Botany Department at the Technical institute at Al - Kufa from January 10.2010 to June 1.2011 to study the effect of growth medium and Naphthalene acetic acid (NAA) concentration on carnation rooting characteristics and its growth and flowering. The experiment included planting Chabaud carnation cuttings ( height 10- 12 cm containing four true leaves ) in two growth media (river loam + peat moss (1:1)) and (river loam alone), and immersing cuttings in NAA with three concentrations (i.e. 0, 200 and 400 mg/L ) . Results showed that growth medium (river loam + peat moss (1:1) gave the highest values in rooting percentage , plant height , number of leaves and nodes , shoot and root dry weight , flower diameters and number of petals ( 88.30% , 14.23 root/cutting , 65.74 cm , 35.11 leaf/plant , 17.55 node/plant , 1.99 gm and 0.80 gm , 4.71 cm and 29.97 petal/ flower , respectively) significantly . compared with the lowest value produced in the growth medium (river loam alone) . The results showed that immersing cuttings in NAA with a concentration 400 ppm significantly increased rotting percentage , number of root/ cutting, plant height, number of leaves and nodes, internodes height, shoot and root dry weight, flower diameters and number of petals to 93.86% , 15.92 root /cutting , 76.88 cm , 38.33 leaf / plant , 19.16 node/ plant , 4.05 cm , 2.2 gm , 0.90 cm , 4.94 cm and 35.30 petal/flower , respectively . Meanwhile control treatment gave the lowest values for these . From the interaction between factors, the results showed that cuttings grown in the growth medium (river loam + peat moss (1:1)) and immersed with 400 ppm NAA gave highest values for the previous characteristics, compared with cuttings grown in river loam alone and non - treated with NAA that gave the lowest values.