THE INFLUENCE OF COLD STORAGE ON THE ROOTING ABILITY OF SOME OLIVE CVS CUTTINGS

The effect of different cold storage period 3 or 6 days , after or before IBA treatments on the rooting percentage of Picual, Manzanillo and Aggizi olive cuttings was studied through two successive seasons (1998 and 1999).
            Generally, the longer the period that cuttings were stored the lower the percentage of rooting were obtained. Rooting ability of cuttings was greatly affected by the hormonal  treatment time (before or after storage). Highest rooting percentage was obtained with cutting initially treated with IBA and then stored for 3 days at 4 ºC. Moreover, August. planting gave high increase in rooting percentage as compared with May planting. In addition. Manzanillo cultivar gave high increase in rooting percentage as compared with the other two cultivars in both seasons.
            Cutting treated with IBA then 3 days cold storage gave the highest total indoles and soluble sugars content. Manzanillo and Picual cultivars had the greatest values while Aggizi c.v. was the lowest ones as compared to control. However, total phenols content followed a reverse trend.