BIOCHAR, SILVER NANOPARTICLES AND IBA HORMONE FOR ENHANCING ROOTABILITY OF SOME CULTIVARS OF OLIVE CUTTINGS

In the current study, a novel application of using nano-materials and organic derived-biochar hasbeen applied to promote some olive cuttings rooting compared to traditional materials like IBA. It was expectedthat a smarter practise of these substances in fruit production could be achievable to solve cuttings rootingproblems. However, interactions of both materials with olive cuttings are required to be under stood prior to wideranging recommendation. The present study assists to explore the influence of silver (Ag) nanoparticles (NPs) andIBA treatments with or without biochar on enhancing rootability of Kalamata and Picual olive cuttings. Differentconcentrations of AgNPs (0, 1, 5, 10, 20 and 40 ppm), IBA (3000, 4000 and 5000 ppm) and olive pomace derivedbiochar (0, 10, 20, 30, and 40 grams per each pot) have been applied to olive cuttings. After the treatments wereapplied to the basal end hardwood cuttings were immediately planted in polyethylene pots (10 cm × 20 cm) filledwith a sand : peatmoss at the ratio of 1:1 and kept in a shade house and 80-90% relative humidity and high basaltemperature (24 °C). The results showed superior positive effect of biochar addition at 40 g per pot on percentageof rooted cuttings, number of roots per cutting, root and branch length and root fresh weights as compared withcontrol in case of Kalmata and Picual olive cvs.in both seasons. The AgNPs at 20 ppm enhanced obviously therooted cuttings percentage and number of roots per cutting, while IBA at 3000 ppm was most effective on rootand branch length and root fresh weights as compared with the other treatments for Kalmata and Picual olive cvs.in both seasons. This study open a new door for investigating the effect of the novel applications of AgNPs andbiochar in different fruit cuttings propagation taking into account that each fruit species require an individualexperimental studies to determine the promising additions of both treatments.