ROOTING OF JUVENILE CUTTINGS OF Pinus patula Schiede ex Schltdl. et Cham. HEDGES

Pinus patula Schiede ex Schltdl. et Cham. is endemic to Mexico and is used in both reforestation programs and in the timber industry due to its fast growth, wood quality, and easy handling. With the advance in genetic breeding programs, there is a need to massively propagate new plants from cuttings. One of the main challenges for this purpose is to know the effect of the age of the mother plant (hedge) on the rooting of cuttings. The younger the plant, the greater the rooting is expected to be. Three ontological ages of P. patula mother plants were compared (7, 10, and 13 months). The experimental design was in complete random blocks, with four replications and 25 cuttings per experimental unit. The response variables were evaluated 20 weeks after the experiment was established. No significant differences were observed in the rooting of the three ages evaluated (67.3 to 81 %), nor in the quality of the root (number and length of primary roots, percentage of plants with secondary roots). The results point out an advantage for the propagation of Pinus cuttings since the mother plants at those ages are capable of generating juvenile cuttings that are adequate to obtain percentages of rooting of over 75 %.