Ipomoea cairica (L.) Sweet is an herbaceous climbing plant widely used in Brazilian folk medicine and there is no information regarding its vegetative propagation. In view of this, the aim of this study was to evaluate the presence of leaves on stem cuttings and the most adequate substrate and level of plant growth regulators for propagation by stem cuttings of this morning glory. Two experiments were conducted, in the first, two types of stem cuttings (with and without leaves) and four substrates (sand; carbonized rice hull; Haplortox + organic matter - 1:1; Haplortox + organic matter + sand - 1:1:2) were evaluated, and in the second experiment five different concentrations of IBA (0, 250, 500, 750 and 1000 mg L-1) were tested. After 20 days, we obtained 86.2% of cuttings rooted in sand substrate and in the second experiment IBA did not affect the rooting percentage (94% on average). We can conclude that the presence of leaves improved the quality of rooting, the substrates indicated for propagation are sand and carbonized rice hull due to greater rooting, easy availability and low cost, and the use of IBA at 250 mg L-1 is more appropriate to propagation by stem cuttings of I. cairica.
medicinal plant; vegetative propagation; rooting; growth medium; growth regulators
