Pinus eldarica Cone Cellulosic Peat: A New Healthy, Organic, and Eco-friendly Substrate for Seed Germination of some Ornamental Plants (Report for the First Time)
Mehrdad Babarabie
1
(
Department of Agriculture, Minab Higher Education Complex, University of Hormozgan, Bandar Abbas, Iran
)
Fatemeh Rava
2
(
Department of Agriculture, Minab Higher Education Complex, University of Hormozgan, Bandar Abbas, Iran
)
Atefeh Ahmadizadeh Zahraei
3
(
Department of Agriculture, Minab Higher Education Complex, University of Hormozgan, Bandar Abbas, Iran
)
Atoosa Danyaei
4
(
Ph.D in Horticultural Sciences, National University of Skills, Tehran, Iran
)
Keywords: Cocopeat, Germination, Pine cone peat, Substrate, Tropical ornamental plants,
Abstract :
The production of high-quality plants is influenced by several factors, among which the choice of appropriate substrate is crucial. Seeds play a vital role in perpetuating plant life by initiating the cycle of new plant creation, with germination being the first step towards fulfilling this role. Organic substrates like cocopeat and peat moss, commonly used for ornamental plant seedlings, are expensive and imported into Iran. Therefore, it is essential to find and utilize a substrate that is of good quality, more affordable, and readily available compared to cocopeat and peat moss. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of Pinus eldarica cone cellulosic peat on the seed germination of Zinnia elegans, Gaillardia aristata, Helianthus annuus, Osteospermum ecklonis, Petunia × atkinsiana, and Adenium arbicum in an experiment based on a completely randomized design with a factorial arrangement and three replications. The analysis of variance indicated that both the simple and interactive effects of the substrate and plant species were significant (P < 0.01 and P < 0.05) on the mean germination time, coefficient of velocity of germination, mean daily germination percentage, and final germination percentage. The highest and lowest final germination percentages were observed in A. arbicum and G. aristata in pine cone peat, respectively. Furthermore, the highest and lowest coefficients of velocity of germination were obtained from O. ecklonis in cocopeat and H. annuus in pine cone peat, respectively. Since P. eldarica cone peat is an economical substrate that is cheaper than cocopeat—costing about half as much—and is commercially produced by the Diana Bastar Kasht company in Iran and it is eco-friendly and natural was observed to be free of pathogens and weed seeds in this study, and contains macro and micronutrients with appropriate pH and electrical conductivity (EC) levels, it is recommended to further investigate its effects on other ornamental plants for the production of plug seedlings.
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