Department of Apiculture and sericulture, Mekelle Agricultural Research Center, Tigray Agricultural Research Institute, P.O. Box 492, Mekelle, Tigray, Ethiopia; Mekelle Universities, Faculty of dry land agriculture and natural resource, P.O. Box 231, Mekelle, Tigray, Ethiopia
Gebremedhn, H., Department of Apiculture and sericulture, Mekelle Agricultural Research Center, Tigray Agricultural Research Institute, P.O. Box 492, Mekelle, Tigray, Ethiopia, Mekelle Universities, Faculty of dry land agriculture and natural resource, P.O. Box 231, Mekelle, Tigray, Ethiopia; Tesfay, Y., Department of Apiculture and sericulture, Mekelle Agricultural Research Center, Tigray Agricultural Research Institute, P.O. Box 492, Mekelle, Tigray, Ethiopia, Mekelle Universities, Faculty of dry land agriculture and natural resource, P.O. Box 231, Mekelle, Tigray, Ethiopia
Hypoestes forskaolii is one of the most important honeybee floras of Northern Ethiopia. However the plant is currently threatened due to population pressure and farmland expansion. Moreover, for rapid propagation of the plant its propagation techniques were not identified. Thus the study was designed to identify and evaluate different propagation techniques of the plant. The study was conducted in Mekelle Agricultural Research Center, Mekelle. Data were statistically analyzed using one way ANOVA analysis of variance. Least significant difference /LSD were calculated to identify significant difference among the treatments using Genstat 13th version statistical software. Six successful propagation techniques of the plant were identified. These were direct cutting, cuttings using pot, transplanting seedlings, splitting or dividing the main branch of the mother plant, air layering and ground layering. There was significant difference among the means of techniques on canopy cover, flowering period, height, number of flowers and branches, and seed yield per plant (p<0.05). Splitting had the highest flower numbers (2029); while air layering had the smallest numbers of flowers (703). The number of flowers had positive correlation with the number of branches, height and flowering period of the plant. Finally, it is recommended to use splitting as best propagation technique of H. forskaolii under its natural growing areas or under in-situ.