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Scientia Silvae Sinicae ›› 2021, Vol. 57 ›› Issue (11): 169-178.doi: 10.11707/j.1001-7488.20211117

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Effects of Water Management during Lignification on Morphology, Physiology and Afforestation Performance of Populus tomentosa Seedlings

Dong Qiao1,Yong Liu1,*,Shuyong Tian2,Feng Zhang2,Yajing Wang1,Xiaoli Li1,Xuejin Feng1,Yanan Zhang1   

  1. 1. Key Laboratory for Silviculture and Conservation of Ministry of Education School of Forestry, Beijing Forestry University Beijing 100083
    2. Guanxian State-Owned White Poplar Nursery Liaocheng 252500
  • Received:2020-07-29 Online:2021-11-25 Published:2022-01-12
  • Contact: Yong Liu

Abstract:

Objective: This research aimed to study the effect of late season irrigation on seedling's morphology, physiology and afforestation performance of Populus tomentosa, in order to provide a scientific basis for precision irrigation in hardening period of seedlings. Method: Tissue culture seedlings of P. tomentosa were transplanted in nursery field. Four different soil water potentials (-20 kPa, -40 kPa, -60 kPa, and -80 kPa) were set as the initial irrigation threshold, and the conventional irrigation(the initial irrigation threshold was at less than -80 kPa) served as the control. The seedlings were subjected to the different irrigation treatments at lignification stage to investigate the changes of seedling water consumption, morphology, physiology and afforestation performance. Result: 1) Late season irrigation had a significant effect on the growth of seedling height and root collar diameter(RCD) at hardening phase (p < 0.05). When the initial irrigation threshold were -20 or -40 kPa, the seedling growth was the largest at the lignification stage, and the seedling height increment, RCD increment and biomass were 15.51%, 6.41% and 57.5% higher than those of control, respectively, but the two treatments had no significant difference. 2) The differences in nutrient status had no obvious pattern among different treatments. However, The nutrient mass per plant with -20 and -40 kPa treatments was the largest, followed by that with -60 and -80 kPa treatments, which were significantly increased by 59.4%, 48.6%, 36.1% and 25.3% respectively compared with the control. 3) Treatments of -20 kPa could delay the defoliation time of seedlings for about 5-7 d and increase the accumulation of photosynthetic products by about 12.5% compared with the control. Although late season irrigation could cause partial dry shoots in winter, it had little effect on the overall overwintering of seedlings. 4)After outplanting, seedlings treated with the initial irrigation threshold of -40 kPa had the highest survival rate of 93%, two years later, its tree height and diameter at the breast height (DBH) were significantly higher than the control by 83.2% and 115.1%, respectively. Conclusion: Proper late season irrigation in hardening phase can promote seedling growth, nutrient reserve and significantly improve the seedling growth after outplanting. Although it reduces the cold tolerance slightly, it has little effect on the overall overwintering. By intergrating the seedling growth in the lignification stage and outplanting effect, the initial irrigation threshold of -40 kPa has the best effects when seedling are cultivated in areas with similar conditions to the experimental site.

Key words: Populus tomentosa, late season irrigation, morphology, physiology, afforestation performance

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