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Chinese Journal of Applied Ecology ›› 2023, Vol. 34 ›› Issue (7): 1817-1824.doi: 10.13287/j.1001-9332.202307.014

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Effects of mixed substrates of different agricultural and forestry residues on the cutting seedlings of Thuja sutchuenensis

MA Fanqiang1, JIAN Zunji1*, GUO Quanshui1, QIN Aili1, PEI Shunxiang2, ZHANG Guangjian3, HUANG Jilan3, ZHOU Liping3   

  1. 1Ecology and Nature Conservation Institute, Chinese Academy of Forestry/Key Laboratory of Forest Ecology and Environment of National Forestry and Grassland Administration, Beijing 100091, China;
    2Experimental Centre of Forestry in North China, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Beijing 102300, China;
    3Chongqing Xuebaoshan National Nature Reserve Management Affairs Center, Chongqing 404500, China
  • Received:2023-03-01 Accepted:2023-05-15 Online:2023-07-15 Published:2024-01-15

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Abstract: To screen environment-friendly seedling cultivation substrates which could replace peat and with less cost, we compared the effects of different agricultural and forestry residue mixed substrates on cutting propagation of Thuja sutchuenensis, in an experiment following randomized block design. There were five types of mixed substrates, including peat + vermiculite + perlite (T1), edible mushroom residue (EMR) + vermiculite + perlite (T2), carbo-nized rice husk (CRH) + vermiculite + perlite (T3), EMR + slag + sawdust (T4) and CRH + EMR + slag (T5). The results showed that the bulk density of T3 was the lowest, followed by T2, which significantly differed from other mixed substrates. The non-capillary porosity of T2 was significantly greater than that of T1, while the capillary porosity and the total porosity of T2 was lower than T1 and T3, respectively. T2 had the highest contents of total nitrogen, total phosphorus, total potassium, alkali-hydrolyzed nitrogen, available phosphorus, substrate moisture and the highest pH, which differed significantly from other mixed substrates in most chemical indicators. The membership function values of rooting rate and growth indicators of cuttings with different mixed substrates were in order of T2 > T3 > T1> T5 > T4. Most indicators with larger grey relation values were physical indicators. The top five indicators were capillary water capacity, total potassium, field water capacity, maximum water capacity, and total porosity, with both capillary water capacity and total potassium content ranking first. In general, the physicochemical properties, rooting rate, and growth characteristics of cuttings under T2 were better than those of other mixed substrates. The capillary water capacity and total potassium were the main factors affecting rooting and growth of cuttings. At the early stage of cutting, the physical properties of mixed substrate had greater effect on rooting rate and growth of cuttings than the chemical properties. Overall, our results suggested that T2 should be preferred in the cutting propagation of T. sutchuenensis.

Key words: Thuja sutchuenensis, agricultural and forestry residue, physical and chemical property, rooting rate of cutting seedling, growth, membership function, grey relation analysis