Studies On Effects Of Container Cultivation On Seedling Growth Of Malus Hupehensis

The experiment had been carried out in Shandong Agrigultural University horticulture stationfrom March2010to March2012with Malus hupehensis(Pamp) Rehd. Growth indexes forseedling,morphological parameters of root,quantity of microorganism and activity of nitratereductase in soil were used to measure the effects of different cultivating medium, capacity,coverage and group sizes on Malus hupehensis Rehd. Results suggested that:1. The quantity of soil microbes and the activity of nitrate reductase varied in different medias.Quantity of bacteria increased at early stage of seedlings growth and decreased at the latestage, in according with the growth rate of seedlings. Soil microbe quantity and nitratereductase activity in loam soil were the highest throughout the growing period. Stem diameterof the seedlings was the largest and quality was the best. Seedlings growing in sandy soildeveloped their roots earlier and had the highest root-shoot ratio. However, soil microbequantity and nitrate reductase activity were the lowest in the treatment throughout thegrowing period.This study suggested that growth of Malus hupehensis Rehd seedling wasprompted by nutrition and physical situation of loam soil.2. Different containers had significant effects on those items to be determined. At early stageof growing seedlings, seedlings in moderate container possessed the highest amount ofgrowth﹑morphological parameters of root and quantity of bacteria; at the middle and latestage of growing seedlings, these three items increased as the capacity of container wasenlarged. It was from transitional experiment concluded that a larger container was beneficialto seedling growth; that seedling in moderate container was transferred then to a largercontainer was the most optimal for growing seedling. Hence, growing seedling with moderatecontainer at early stage and then transferring them to larger ones can improve quality ofseedlings of Malus hupehensis Rehd.3. The number of emergance and the growth indexes of seedling varied with differentcoverage.The rate of emergence of seedings with plastic film was91.2%, the grass was54.4%while the sand was75.8%.The seedings under the coverage of plastic film had the highest rate of emergence and the best condition of growth in the early time. But the seedings under thecoverage of sand had the highest rate of good emergence and the best condition of growth inthe middle and late time. Meanwhile, the cost of sand is low, it could be widely used inproduction.4. The number of emergance and the growth indexes of seedling varied with different sizes ofgroup. It could be found from the thick,height,leaf area, Chlorophyll and Root-shoot ratio onMalus hupehensis Rehd seedings. The seedings with big group sizes was larger in thick,heightand leaf area while smaller in Chlorophyll and Root-shoot ratio than other treatments in theearly time. The result was totally different in the middle and late period. As a result, the biggerof the group sizes,the higher of the rate of emergence. In the late period, the quality ofseedings got better with smaller group sizes because of the limitation of the growth space. Sowe can increase the number of seedings during the early cultivation, and then separate theseedings in the later period.