Suchockas, V. 2010. Influence of Parent Trees Characteristics on Propagation of Hybrid Aspen by Root Cuttings.  Baltic Forestry 16(1): 2-7

The influence of parental tree’s age on root cutting sprouting capacity was studied. It was found that the age of a parental tree had a great effect on sprouting capacity of aspen’s and its hybrids root cuttings. The age showed a strong and significant correlation with the percentage of sprouted root cuttings. Younger parental trees yielded a higher percentage of sprouted root cuttings.
The results also showed that root cutting diameter had an influence on offspring biometric parameters. A hypothesis that larger root cuttings accumulate higher amounts of nutrients and thus stimulate plant development was raised. This hypothesis was later confirmed by an actual finding that larger offspring are produced from larger root cuttings under uniform growth conditions. The results showed that higher sprouting capacity could be expected when the P. tremula x P. tremuloides hybrid rather than that of P. tremula x P.alba was used for root cutting preparation. It was found that sprouting percentage of P. tremula x P. tremuloides root cuttings reached 15% while that of P. tremula x P.alba root cuttings was just 9%.

Key words: aspen, root cutting, seedlings, height, diameter