Abstract

In the present study, the rooting behavior was evaluated for stem cuttings of one of medicinally important plant, Urtica dioica L. Among four treatments of rooting media which includes field soil, sand, small sand and water, average of rooting in field soil was highest. There were no differences in root production between macro sand and water treatments. The same patterns occurred with root weight per cutting. Other hand the potential of root production in nettle stem cuttings was: water = macro sand < field soil. The plants rooted transplantation into plastic bags very well and grew until the flowering stage. The amount of produced biomass per plant is about 400 grams after 4 months growth. From results of this study it can be concluded that vegetative propagation of this important plant is feasible through application of stem cuttings on soil propagation bed, better than other in vivo media under controlled conditions.

Key words: Soil, growth conditions, medicinal plants.