Inoculations with plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) stimulate adventitious root formation on semi-hardwood stem cuttings of Ficus Benjamina L

An attempt was made to induce rooting from cuttings of Ficus benjamina L. by plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) treatments under controlled conditions. Semi-hardwood cuttings of Ficus benjamina were used. Agrobacterium rubi (A1 and A18), Pseudomonas putida (BA-8), and Bacillus subtilus (BA-142) were used as rooting agents. The rooting percentage was 100% in all bacteria strain treatments while the lowest were observed in control (86.7%). Root length was greater when cuttings were treated with BA-142 and A-18 compared the other treatments. The lowest root length was obtained in the control. The fresh root weight varied from 0.60 g (A-1) to 2.29 g (BA-142) in experiment I (December 2013) and experiment II (July 2014), respectively. The highest new leaf number (1.44) was observed on cuttings treated with BA-142 followed by 1.26 in treatment BA-8. The results of this study suggest that Bacillus subtilus (BA-142) may possess great potential for promoting adventitious root formation in Ficus benjamina