In Brazil, most of the Surinam cherry (Eugenia uniflora) orchards is formed by ungrafted plants, which makes the plantations have low genetic uniformity. The vegetative minicutting propagation is a viable alternative for the propagation of several fruit species, and can also be used with native species providing the formation of orchards with homogeneous populations of plants, with production of seedlings with high health and accelerated propagation process. In this context, a study for the multiplication of Surinam cherry was conduced with herbaceous cuttings, taken from young and adult mother plants, immersed in indole butyric acid doses (0, 2000, 4000 and 6000mg L-1), in three different water periods (0, 24 or 48 hours). Survival rate (%), leaf retention and emission (No. leaves /cutting), callus rate (%) and rooting (%) were evaluated. At the end of the experiment, were also evaluated fresh and dry weight of shoot and root, leaf number and leaf area. The experiment has a completely randomized design with three replications of ten plants per treatment for nom destructive and three replications of five plants per treatment for the destrutive parameters. The herbaceous cuttings were efficient to produce seedlings of Surinam cherry, particularly when using cuttings derived from seedlings in the absence of the immersion in water and exogenous auxin.
vegetative propagation; auxins; age; Eugenia uniflora
