Rooting response of olive stem cuttings under zero energy environment

摘要

Olive (Olea europaea L.) has been found to perform well under western Himalayan regions of India comprising states of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttaranchal. In J&K, many exotic olive cultivars have been introduced under Indo-ltalian Fruit Development Programme. Olive cultivation in the state is mainly confined to Uri, Ramban, Doda, Poonch, Rajouri and Udhampur covering 231 ha area with a production of 3 metric tonnes (Anon., 1). However, there is a major gap in production as well as area expansion to meet the demand for oil and pickle which at present is totally imported from major olive producing European countries. The main problem faced by local olive growers is non-availability of quality planting materials as well as lack of any ready to employ low cost clonal multiplication technique so that grower can produce their own planting materials. Olive stem cuttings for raising uniform self rooted planting materials have been extensively used only under hi-tech mist chambers environment (Gautam and Chauhan, 5,6), especially by regulating physiological stage of cutting, growth regulator treatments and rooting environment especially temperature and relative humidity.