Root system development and field establishment: effect of seedling quality

Effect of fertilization and container size on the quality of “Sangre de Drago” (Croton urucurana Baill.) seedlings in a plug + 1 production system.

“…In addition, an increase in container volume enhanced the total height, stem diameter, TDW, leaf area, and ICD of C. urucurana seedlings transplanted from 250 mL containers to their final containers in the rapid growth phase (Table 3). Previous studies in different species have shown that container size influences the morphological and physiological quality attributes of seedlings (Biran and Eliassaf 1980;NeSmith and Duval 1998;Carpenedo Aimi et al 2016;Senilliani et al 2021;Grossnickle and Ivetić 2022). Various authors have also established a direct correlation between container size and morphological quality parameters (Domínguez Lerena 1997;Dominguez-Lerena et al 2006;Bernaola-Paucar et al 2015).…”

“…The plateau produced on height and stem diameter growth in seedlings of all treatments could be due to all containers becoming restrictive for root system development towards the end of the experiment. This restrictive effect of the container on seedling growth was observed in different herbaceous and woody horticultural and ornamental crops (NeSmith and Duval 1998;Gutiérrez et al 2010;Grossnickle and Ivetić 2022). Therefore, once the substrate type to be used in the rapid growth phase is defined, it is crucial to consider the container volume, as it defines the period during which the seedling will maintain a good quality until the out-planting date.…”

“…Of the attributes and indices that we tested, those most related to plant quality and survival in the out-planting site are TDW, S/R ratio, and ICD (Dickson et al 1960;Thompson 1985). The container volume is the main factor that controls the production of root system biomass, which in turn impacts the ability of seedlings to generate aerial growth due to its contribution of nutrients, water, and growth regulators NeSmith and Duval 1998;Grossnickle and Ivetić 2022). Therefore, a restriction on root growth will negatively affect total biomass accumulation by affecting aerial growth (NeSmith and Duval 1998;Gutiérrez et al 2010).…”

“…Furthermore, when the field site environment is not limiting, the root could have a growth stimulus that could compensate for an inadequate S/R ratio. According to Grossnickle and Ivetić (2022), the combination of root development and planting site environmental conditions will determine the survival after out-planting. Thompson (1985) warns that besides the S/R ratio, seedling survival in its final location will depend on its TDW and DQI value.…”

Diagnóstico de la producción de plantas nativas en la región de Los Lagos, Chile

“…Un tema relevante a considerar, es que se deben establecer los atributos de plantas que maximizan el desempeño en campo, con una mirada específica para los distintos sitios de la región (cordillera de la costa vs los andes, suelos trumaos, ñadis, metamórficos, etc), comenzando por las especies más vulnerables y las más demandadas, bajo el concepto de planta objetivo. Al respecto, es posible utilizar como base las revisiones de información científica hechas por Dumroese et al (2016), Grossnickle (2018), Grossnickle & Ivetić, (2022) para especies de latitudes equivalentes en el hemisferio norte.…”