Azalea is an ornamental plant commercially propagated by cuttings, and their rooting process in many cases, is difficult, which results in decreased production of seedlings. The objective of this study was to evaluate the use of IBA and the effect of different substrates on the rooting of cuttings of azalea in the fall. A randomized design with five replications in a factorial array was used as a statistical model, and it was adopted the following factors: types of substrates (vermiculite - medium granules, hull rice coal and coconut fiber), and indole butyric acid - IBA (0mg L-1 and 1,000mg L-1). After 76 days, the following variables were evaluated: leaf retention (%), rooted cuttings (%), cuttings survival (%), length of the longest root, number of leaves, fresh weight of roots per cutting, pH and electrical conductivity of the substrates. There was no difference of using IBA to improve rooting. The hull rice coal and vermiculite substrates resulted in a higher number of leaves on cuttings than coconut fiber. However, the coconut fiber and hull rice coal provided a greater root length. For fresh weight of roots per cutting, the coconut fiber also provided the best results. It was concluded that there was no contribution of IBA on the rooting of azalea, and coconut fiber substrate was more suitable for its rooting.
cutting; auxin; production of seedlings; coconut fiber
