INFLUENCE OF THE COMPOSITION OF THE SOIL SUBSTRATE ON THE SURVIVAL AND GROWTH OF PISTACHIO SEEDLINGS IN CONTAINERS
The article presents the results of using in-container growing grafted planting material of pistachios natural. The composition of the soil substrate for filling containers has a significant effect on the germination, growth and development of pistachio seedlings. When selecting the composition, one should take into account not only the nutritional properties of the substrate, or its physical properties but also the simplicity and affordability of its preparation in a forestry and other enterprises where planting material would be nursed. The aim of the article is to study the effect of the composition of the substrate on the growth of pistachio seedlings natural. The effects of four substrate compositions were studied, namely: 1 - manure 15 %, soil 85 %, 2 - manure 30 %, soil 70 %, 3 - manure 45 %, soil 55 %; 4 - soil 100 % (control). The experiment was carried out in triplicate, the number of plants in the repetition of 24 pieces. The survival rate of plants had shown 98.61 %. An analysis of the experiments showed that the best indicators for height and diameter were obtained using a substrate containing 30% manure and 70 % soil. In this embodiment, the average height indicator exceeded the control by 3.4 for the Student's coefficient, and with diameter by 6.0. When using a substrate containing 15 % manure and 85 % soil, the excess in height was 1.5, and in diameter 3.7. With a further increase in the concentration of manure to 45 % and soil to 55 %, a decrease was observed in height up to 0.4, and in diameter up to 3.9. This reaction of pistachio plants to an increased content of manure in the substrate can be explained by an excess of nitrogen. Based on the above experimental results, we can conclude that the most suitable for growing pistachio seedlings in containers is a substrate containing 30 % manure and 70 % soil. Key words: pistachio, soil composition, seedlings, container, survival rate, seedling height, barrel diameter.