Response of dragon fruit (Hylocereus undatus Haw. Britton and Rose) clonal cuttings to different time of healing and fungicide applications / by Reyson Dave G. dela Cruz, Justine P. Rodil and Sheila Elaine D. Silan.

Research Study (Science High School) Cavite State University

Includes bibliographical references.

dela Cruz, Reyson Dave G., Rodil, Justine P., Silan, Sheila Elaine D. RESPONSE OF DRAGON FRUIT (Hylocereus undatus Haw. Britton and Rose) CLONAL CUTTINGS TO DIFFERENT TIME OF HEALING AND FUNGICIDE APPLICATION. Research Study. Cavite State University Science High School, Indang, Cavite. April 2009. Adviser: Teddy F. Tepora, PhD
A project was conducted at the Dragon Fruit Seedling Nursery, Research Center of Cavite State University, Indang, Cavite from October 2008 to January 2009 generally to engineer a farming technique that will minimize the disease in dragon fruit clonal seedlings and produce high quality planting materials. Specifically, it aimed to determine the response of dragon fruit clonal cuttings to different time of healing and fungicide application, to identify the effect of fungicide application to the growth and rooting performance of dragon fruit clonal cuttings, to determine the effect of different time of healing to the growth and rooting performance of dragon fruit clonal cuttings, and determine which of the treatments had given the best effect on dragon fruit clonal cuttings in terms of growth and rooting performance.
The experiment was arranged in a 2 x 4 factorial experiment in a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with healing period as Factor A and fungicide application as Factor B. Each treatment combination was replicated three times. The data were subjected to analysis of variance (ANOVA) for factorial experiment in RCBD. Treatment means which produced significant results were compared using Duncan's Multiple Range Test (DMRT). Findings of the study revealed that interaction of period of healing and fungicide application significantly affected the width of the plant and percent disease infection three and four months after planting and number of roots four months after planting. fungicide application significantly affected the stem length and length of roots of clonal seedlings three and four months after planting, stem width four months after planting, number of roots one and two months after planting and percent disease infection three and four months after planting.
Healing period affected the stem width three months after planting, number and length of roots four months after planting and percent disease infection three months after planting. Generally, this study had engineered a farming technique that minimized the disease in dragon fruit clonal seedlings and produced high quality planting materials. Specifically, thicker width of the plant, more number of roots and greater resistance from diseases were achieved through interaction of period of healing and fungicide application. Also, fungicide application encouraged better development of stem in terms of height and width, better root performance in terms of number and length and stronger resistance from disease on dragon fruit seedlings.
Furthermore, better plant growth in terms of number and length, thicker stems and stronger resistance from diseases were the effect of period of healing to the dragon fruit seedlings. Lastly, among all treatments, the clonal cuttings applied with fungicide and subjected to longest healing period (A4B2) had given optimal results in terms of growth and rooting performance.

Submitted to the University Library 04/16/2009 RS-554