The Effect of Polypropylene Mulching Method on Growth of Quercus glauca Thunb. Seedling and Weed Treatments

Abstract

Recently, cultivation and management technologies have been needed to adapt due to climate change, which is causing abnormal weather conditions. One technique is to increase the utilization of evergreen broad-leaved species with high ornamental value. A total of five treatments were installed (1m×22.5m), including 60g/m 2 and 80g/m 2 using two types mulching material with an overlapping and hole-drilling mulching method and these were compared to un-mulching treatment a total of planted 92m 2 attheWol-aTestSiteForestattheForestforBiomaterialsResearchCenterinJinju-si, Gyeongsangnam-dofor 10monthsusing3-years-oldQuercusglaucaThunb. In comparison with the control site, the 60g/m 2 overlapping method was about 1.9 times higher than the root collar diameter, but there was no statistical significance between the treatments. Healthy seedlings were found to meet these conditions due to high biomass values and below and T/R ratios of 3.0 or lower and H/D ratios of 7.0 or lower. Comparing the values of LWR, SWR, and RWR, which can be evaluated for seedling due to the mulching treatments, as compared to the control, the growth of the ground areas including leaves and stems was enhanced, but the growth of the underground areas containing roots tended to have high control values. Based on this, the SQI value, which can be evaluated for the comprehensive quality of seedlings, was found to be significantly different between the control site and the mulching treatment sites, confirming that the growth and growth improvement effects were achieved with mulching treatments. The chlorophyll content analysis showed that there was a significant difference from the control site, and it was judged that weed generation in the control acted as an environmental stress, causing a decrease in chlorophyll content. It was found that the overlapping 80g/m 2 of polypropylene mulching material generated about 4 times fewer weeds than the control, and the manpower required for the mulching test field and weeding were equal at 3.3 people/100m 2 /1 day. Mulching treatments have demonstrated a significant difference in the promotion of growth and quality of the seedlings and are judged as an alternative that can reduce the economic burden incurred by the purchase of the supplies and the manpower required to weed forestry plantations.