The quality and physiological characteristics on Cyclobalanopsis Glauca container seedlings of different substrate

Abstract

Cyclobalanopsis glauca, a Fagaceae plant, is one of the dominant species in subtropical evergreen broad-leaved forests in humid East China and also the main afforestation species in the region. Choosing the proper substrate is a key factor of optimal growing conditions for Cyclobalanopsis Glauca container seedlings. It is important to investigate feasible and correct combination of substrates with various organic waste products such as rice hulls, pine bark, etc., to fully or partially replace highly valuable materials such as peat, perlite. In this study, physical and chemical properties of the substrates, the quality and physiological characteristics of Cyclobalanopsis Glauca seedlings were investigated. The result showed that there were significant differences in the physical and chemical properties of the 15 kinds of substrates, such as Particle density, field capacity, pH value, organic matter content and rapidly available nitrogen content. Field capacity and pH value of the substrates were decreased from 445.32 % to 212.26% and from 4.7 to 5.9 respectively, with the increase of proportion of peat. The rapidly available nitrogen content of the substrates increased from 0.76 mg·g <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">-</sup> 1 to 2.83 mg·g <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">-</sup> 1 with the increase of proportion of peat. Significant differences in the plant height, root collar diameter, biomass per plant and quality index (QI) of container seedlings were observed among the 15 kinds of media. The seedlings quality was increased with increasing of peat proportion in substrates. The substrate composition with peat: perlite: rice husk (0.46:0.27:0.27) or peat : saw dust : rice husk (0.46:0.27:0.27) were suitable for the growth of the Cyclobalanopsis glauca seedlings, according to the multi-objective comprehensive evaluation on physical and chemical properties of substrate, container seedling quality and production cost.