With the aim of studying the effect of branch conditioning through girdling and banding on Valência orange cuttings a rooting trial was carried out from February to December of 1993. The girdling was performed with a thin cooper wire tightly tied at the branch base reaching the log, and the banding with black poliethylene tape, covering the branch at the base of the sprouts. Each conditioned branch gave one cutting of 15 cm length, 0.5 cm diameter and a pair of half cut apical leaves. Cuttings were planted on Dec.04, 93, in washed and sieved sand substrate. The experimental design was completely randomized, with a factorial 3 x 3 from 0, 30 and 60 day periods, girdling and banding. There was no rooting in cuttings that remained three months in the substrate and there was up to 26.04% rooting for those ones that lasted for eight months in the substrate. The banding period significantly affected the cuttings rooting percentage.
girdling; banding; rooting; cutting; Citrus sinensis Osbeck; vegetative propagation
