IN VIVO PROPAGATION OF CERTAIN SWEET BASIL CULTIVARS

The individual variability in essential oil composition in the commercial varieties is a very important subject in the field of aromatic herbs production. The vegetative propagation is an important tool for improving and maintaining varieties of economic and medicinal importance. In this study, three serial experiments were conducted to study certain factors affecting rooting: media, branch and cutting types for some commercial cultivars of sweet basil. The results showed that the rooting ability of sweet basil cuttings was not significantly affected by the used rooting media (ca. 92% for peat moss and 89% for Nile silt). Also, the percentage of rooted cuttings was not significantly affected by cultivars. The rooting of lateral shoots is easier than with main ones. Generally, the tip- and single-node leafy cuttings are superior in rooting percentage and produced sufficient rooting and vegetative systems compared to the other ones. Finally, sweet basil can be successfully propagated through rooting of tip- and single-node cuttings and this technique provides a simple and efficient method for rapid and applicable propagation and it is particularly useful for obtaining high progeny uniformity and to overcome the individual variability in essential oil composition in commercial varieties.