Keywords
medicinal plants
rooting hormones
How to Cite
Abstract
This experiment aimed to find out how the substrate composition and indole-3-butyric acid (IBA) concentration affect the rooting percentage, shoot growth and survival rate of stem cuttings of seven Mentha species (native and alien). The vegetative propagation technique using stem cuttings is one of the viable alternatives to seed propagation in the family Lamiaceae especially for those with poor seed viability. Stem cuttings were soaked in IBA concentrations of 1,000, 2,000, and 3,000 ppm then planted in 16 media treatments differing in peat, soil and sand proportions. Rooting performance varied significantly by species and substrate. M. aquatica rooted best in pure peat and a 1:2 soil: sand mix, while M. longifolia achieved up to 312.7 roots/explant in sand: peat (2:1). Shoot elongation was highest in sand-dominant substrates, especially for M. pulegium (24.9 cm in pure sand). Highest cuttings survival rates were obtained in soil where sand (2:1) showed highest success at 3,000 ppm IBA, especially for M. spicata. The maximum root numbers were achieved at 134.1 roots/explant in soil:sand:peat at ratio 1:1:2 using 3,000 ppm IBA, while maximum root length (7.9 cm) was observed in sand only (2,000 ppm IBA). Substrates with higher concentrations of peat were mostly inhibitory for rooting and survival in general. This experiment proves that the choice of substrate and hormonal regime should be species-specific in Mentha.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Saeeda Naz, Noor Huma, Ghulam Mujtaba, Shahzad Imran, Muhammad Azhar Shah, Naila Ikram, Zameer Alim Khan, Riffat Tahira