The loquat cultivation has been developing in Brazil, due to the good harvest and marketing. Propagation methods are looked for to preserve the good genetic characteristics, to induce precocity besides low cost. The cutting method has these characteristics, so a study was carried out at the FCAV/UNESP, in Jaboticabal, São Paulo State, Brazil, using loquat tree (Eriobotrya japonica Lindl), planted in 1977, Mizuho variety. It was used cuttings with and without tip-shoot, with 2 or 4 intact and cut by the half leaves, in a total of 6 treatments, 4 replicates and 12 cuttings/plot. After 120 days of the plantation of the cuttings in boxes containing vermiculite and maintained under an intermittent misting system, the percentage of survival cuttings and callus presence were significantly better in the apical cuttings without tip-shoot and with 4 leaves. There is no effect of the type of herbaceous cuttings on the number of rooting, number and medium length of roots. The callus presence indicates the possibility of natural incentive of rooting that can be increased by the use of growth regulators.
propagation; callus; root
