The container type used in nursery culture is among the most important determinants οf containerised seedling objective of the present study was to analyse root and shoot growth, root growth potential and photochemical efficiency of seedlings of Picea abies, Robinia pseudoacacia, Pinus brutia, and Pinus nigra cultivated for 5 weeks in mini-plugs of 2 different cavity depths (37 and 60 mm). | P. KOSTOPOULOU, K. RADOGLOU, O. DINI PAPANASTASI, C. ADAMIDOU Research Article Turk J Agric For 35 (2011) 379-390 © TÜBİTAK doi: Effect of mini-plug container depth on root and shoot growth of four forest tree species during early developmental stages Panagiota KOSTOPOULOU, Kalliopi RADOGLOU*, Olympia DINI PAPANASTASI, Christina ADAMIDOU Forest Research Institute, National Agricultural Research Foundation, 57006 Vassilika, Thessaloniki - GREECE Received: Abstract: The container type used in nursery culture is among the most important determinants οf containerised seedling quality. The objective of the present study was to analyse root and shoot growth, root growth potential, and photochemical efficiency of seedlings of Picea abies, Robinia pseudoacacia, Pinus brutia, and Pinus nigra cultivated for 5 weeks in mini-plugs of 2 different cavity depths (37 and 60 mm). The results showed that precultivation of P. nigra and, to a lesser extent, of R. pseudoacacia in deeper mini-plug containers improved seedling morphological attributes and quality, but shallow containers produced better quality seedlings of P. abies. In P. brutia, the use of shallow containers led to the development of a superior root system, while the use of deeper containers produced seedlings with better above-ground characteristics. Key words: Cavity depth, mini-plug container, root growth potential, seedling quality Introduction The use of low quality planting stock is often responsible for reforestation failure in Greece (Radoglou and Raftoyannis 2001). In addition, drought conditions, often encountered in Mediterranean ecosystems, pose a significant limitation to the successful establishment of transplanted material (Navarro et al. 2006; Plourde et al. 2009). The quality of the produced planting stock, as expressed by morphological and physiological characteristics, is actually the only factor that man can manipulate (Radoglou 1999) in order to ensure high .
