Int.J.Curr.Microbiol.App.Sci (2018) 7(9): 1685-1690 1685 Original Research Article https://doi.org/10.20546/ijcmas.2018.709.204 Influence of Plant Growth Promoting Substances on Rooting of Bush Pepper Cuttings H.S. Sannidhi 1* , H.R. Bhoomika 1 , B.M. Priyanka 1 , M.S. Nandish 2 , G. Raviraja Shetty 1 and M. Ganapathi 3 1 Department of Plantation, Spice, Medicinal and Aromatic Crops, 3 Department of crop Physiology, College of Horticulture, Mudigere, Chickmagalur District, 577132, India 2 Department of microbiology, College of Agriculture, Shivamogga, India *Corresponding author ABSTRACT Introduction Black pepper (Piper nigrum L.) is a perennial woody vine native of Indian subcontinent. It has gained global recognition as the “king of spices” and “black gold” (Devasahayam et al., 2010) due to its economical importance. Pepper berries are valued both as food flavourants and the medicine worldwide. The vine can be propagated both by sexual as well as asexual means. The commercial method of propagation is through cuttings. The vine produces four types of shoots namely, orthotropic shoots, runner shoots, plagiotropic shoots and geotropic shoots. In India runner shoots are extremely employed for propagation. Two to three nodal cuttings are prepared out of the runner shoots and the rooted cuttings are usually trained on trees / standards to enable the plant to climb upwards and grow out into a vine. But when the laterals are used as planting material, the resultant plants grow like a bush. International Journal of Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences ISSN: 2319-7706 Volume 7 Number 09 (2018) Journal homepage: http://www.ijcmas.com Bush pepper is a miniature black pepper (Piper nigrum L.) plant grown in the form of a bush as potted plant with decorative and economic value, raised from lateral branches (plagiotrops) of yielding vines. Growth hormones and plant growth promoting rhizo- microorganisms were evaluated for their effects on rooting of plagiotropic cuttings of black pepper. The fruiting branches of black pepper variety Panniyur 1 were employed for the study. There were totally nineteen treatments that included PGPRs viz. Azospirillum lipoferum and Pseudomonas fleuroscens and plant growth hormones viz. IBA, NAA and 2, 4D at different concentrations. The treatment T 8 (IBA 1000 ppm) proved to be the best for rooting by recording maximum values for percentage rooting (65.30), fresh weight (1.10 g),dry weight of root (0.53 g), per cent survival (54.04) followed by IBA 1250 ppm. The treatment also recorded maximum net income (Rs. 11492.00 / 1000 cuttings) and highest benefit cost ratio (1: 3.43). Keywords Black pepper, Bush pepper, Plagiotropic, Hormones, Root, Cuttings Accepted: 12 August 2018 Available Online: 10 September 2018 Article Info