In Chile, the
Eucalyptus nitens (H. Deane & Maiden) Maiden ×
E. globulus Labill. hybrid presents the highest
production potential due to its desirable characteristics for the production of cellulose. Nevertheless, its low ability
to rooting complicates the clonal propagation in nurseries, with the need for new alternatives to increase rooting.
The objective of this research was to evaluate the effect of rhizobacteria in the adventitious rooting of mini-cuttings
of two hybrid
E. nitens ×
E. globulus clones, wherein 106 rhizospheric bacterial isolates from five species and
hybrids of
Eucalyptus spp. were used. The mini-cuttings were treated at the base with a 20 mL liquid suspension
of rhizobacterial strains. In addition, cultured bacteria were applied by manual sprinklers in the rooting substrate.
In the first trial, 38% of rhizobacteria increased significantly rooting of X-64 clone mini-cuttings. Of these, in a
second trial, 50% of rhizobacteria maintained their effect in promoting the rooting in two clones, and in the third
trial among the 20 strains evaluated, 10 strains increased rooting in both clones. The rhizobacteria that had the most
consistent effect in the rooting increase of the mini-cuttings were species of
Bacillus
and
Pseudomonas
sp., as well
as the genera
Chryseobacterium
,
Mucilaginibacter
and
Rhodococcus
sp., with these results, it is concluded that 10
rhizobacterial isolates have increased the adventitious rooting of minicuttings of two hybrid clones of
E. nitens ×
E. globulus, and these inoculants could be used in periods of underperformance of minicuttings, in order to optimize
their performance.
