Effects of Fertilization Treatments on the Growth Characteristics of Crataegus pinnatifida in a Container

Abstract

With increasing the demand of urban greenery, market of landscape trees using container has grown steadily. However, there has been little research on the proper fertilizer application for various landscape trees using container. This study was conducted to investigate optimal fertilizer intensity for Crataegus pinnatifida to produce landscape trees using container. The main objective of this study was to examine effects of fertilization treatments (Con., 0.5, 1.0, 2.0 g/L) on the growth characteristics of Crataegus pinnatifida. In this study, Crataegus pinnatifida showed the highest growth of tree height (TH), root collar diameter (RCD), dry biomass weight (DBW) and Seedling Quality Index (SQI) in 1.0 g･L-1 treatment (p<.05). Especially, 1.0 g･L-1 treatment showed 4 to 9 times better quality than other treatments in SQI. In the case of height/root collar diameter (H/D) ratio and top/root (T/R) ratio, there were no significant differences between the treatments (p>.05). Soil-plant analysis development (SPAD) value on 2.0 g･L-1 treatment was much higher than that on other treatments (p<.05), but 2.0 g･L-1 treatment showed lower value than 1.0 g･L-1 treatment in the growth of TH, RCD, DBW and SQI. Therefore, our results support that 1.0 g･L-1 could be more economical and environmental than 2.0 g･L-1 , which is the highest fertilizer intensity on Crataegus pinnatifida's container production.