Enhancing the capacity of fruit trees to propagate via cuttings is an important endeavor for the high-quality development of the fruit industry. Optimizing the conditions for the cutting propagation of mulberry seedlings is an important factor that influences the industrial production of this plant; however, the currently used mulberry breeding technology system is not mature. In this experiment, an orthogonal design was used to intercept semi-woody shoots of Yueshenda 10 as cuttings and set different hormone concentrations (200, 500, 800, and 1000 mg/L), different hormone types (NAA, IBA, IAA, and ABT-1), and different soaking times (10, 30, 60, and 120 min) for cuttings. The effects of the three factors on the rooting of mulberry cuttings were investigated by soaking the cuttings in clean water for 10 min as a control. The results showed that the primary and secondary order of the three factors affecting the rooting rate of cuttings was hormone concentration > hormone type > soaking time, and the concentration of exogenous hormones had a significant impact on all rooting indicators (p < 0.05). In addition, the rooting rate (66.24%), average number of roots (7.54 roots/plant), and rooting effect index (4.23) of Yueshenda 10 cuttings reached the optimal level when soaked with 800 mg/L ABT-1 for 30 min. The longest root length (10.20 cm) and average root length (4.44 cm) of cuttings achieved the best results when soaked with 800 mg/L NAA for 60 min and 500 mg/L NAA for 30 min, respectively. On balance, it is considered that the preferred solution is to soak the cuttings of Yueshenda 10 with 800 mg/L ABT1 solution for 0.5 h.

Bougainvillea is an ornamental shrub for its durable colorful bracts and popularity in decoration. However, low temperatures (LT) seriously limit its utilities in the landscape. Thus, selecting cultivars that can be tolerant in LT situations is necessary. In this study, we chose a cultivar, B. glabra “Elizabeth Angus” that have outstanding ornamental traits and high tolerance to the cold stress. RNA-seq of B. glabra “Elizabeth Angus” showed differentially expressed genes (DEGs) highly related to cold tolerance. DEGs were made into a heatmap, in which 5 clusters showed high expression after being exposed to the cold, and 3 clusters showed low expression. Moreover, the expression of the top 20 hub genes in each cluster was formed, according to the gene co-expression network (GCN), indicating that these genes may play very critical roles in cold tolerance. They were significantly enriched in plant hormone signal transduction pathways, circadian clock, photosynthesis, and flowering, which play key roles in cold stress response. This work offers a reliable basis for cold-tolerant Bougainvillea breeding and landscape application.