Rooting Induction of Soft Wood and Almond Micro-cutting Using Agrobacterium Rhizogenes

The present work was carried out during the period between 1999 till 2003 in the laboratories of Agriculture Development System (ADS). Cairo, Egypt. This study aimed to investigate rooting induction of bitter almond under open field and in vitro using Agrobacterium rhizogenes. The following conclusions were derived from the results of this work. Bitter almond softwood cuttings infected with Agrobacterium rhizogenes failed completely to root under open field conditions.WP medium proved to be suitable rooting medium for rooting bitter almond shoots followed by B & N and MS respectively as it gave the highest rooting percentage, number of roots / rooted shoot while B & N and WP medium gave the longest root length. Adding activated charcoal to the rooting medium caused a sharp decrease in the rooting percentage. NAA was the most effective auxin in inducing the best rooting percentage (40.74), greatest number of roots / rooted shoot and the longest root of bitter almond shoots followed by IBA, while IAA took the other way round. Satisfactory in vitro rooting (95.00- 99.00 %) was obtained in bitter almond rootstock through the infection of Agrobacterium rhizogenes w. t., strain 1855 at the base of micro - cuttings.