Study on the season of cutting, substrate and coconut juice on the rooting of Maymars juniper cuttings

Junipers of Iran are indigenous, beautiful and resistant plants with various usages in horticulture and Forestry. These plants are found in natural resources places naturally; unfortunately they are getting extinct because of Annihilation of natural habitats and also atmospheric changes. So, researches on propagation and protection of them are so important. One of the effective materials on asexual propagation of this plant, cutting, that is really efficient is coconut juice. To introduce natural materials instead chemical hormones for rooting Maymars cuttings and also to select the best season and substrate, recent experiment was done with 5 levels of coconut juice (0, 25%, 50%, 75% & 100%) in 4 substrates contained, perlite, perlite-cocopite (1:1), Pumice and rooting substrate (combination of sand, perlite, cocopeat, vermicompost and peat moss) and 4 seasons of year on Maymars cuttings with length 15 cm. The experiment was done in 3 replications, and each one contained 9 cuttings. The aim of the experiment was finding the best season, substrate and natural treatment to propagate this plant. At the end of each season, rooting percentage, root length, root numbers, fresh and dry weight of roots were registered in each substrate and treatment. The result showed that the best season for rooting the Maymars cuttings is spring. The best rooting between all treatments was related to level 25% coconut juice in perlit-cocopeat (1:1) substrate with more than 30% rooting. In winter no rooting was seen in none of substrates and treatments. Highest amount of roots was seen in fall and also perlit-cocopeat (1:1) substrate. Maximum root length was seen in spring and minimum of that was seen in summer. Also maximum root length was seen in pumice substrate. Highest amount of root fresh and dry weight was resulted in spring. And also highest amount of root fresh weight was found in perlite substrate and there was no different in amount of root dry weight in all substrates equally. Generally, it can be concluded that coconut juice causes rooting percentage increase in cuttings, because of containing auxin. And it is advised to use them instead chemical materials. To propagate Maymars junipers via cutting it is found that spring is the best season to propagate this species and other seasons are not proper and acceptable to propagate this plant. Generally, in can be concluded that coconut juice increases the rooting of Maymars cuttings as containing natural auxin and the best level is 25%. The best rooting between all treatments was related to level 25% coconut juice in perlit-cocopeat (1:1) substrate with more than 30% rooting.