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Scientific Papers Series B Horticulture

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Data were subjected to statistical analysis withthe SAS (SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC)package. Method of least significant different(LSD) was applied to separate means.RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONSEffect of container geometryThe effect of different containers on root andshoot growth of Acacia saligna and Eucalyptusviminalis was listed in (Table.1). A. salignaplants grown in spring rings show a significantincrease in plant height. None of theexperimental containers allowed Acacia plantsto produce a marked difference in leaf area orleaf number. Even though the leaf fresh and dryweight was higher in conventional pots, it didnot vary significantly from the spring rings.The negligible difference in the shoot fresh anddry weight and also total top biomass fresh anddry weight reveals that the differences incontainers did not affect much in the shootgrowth of the plants. The low fresh and dryweight of roots in spring rings may be due tothe self pruning of roots when come in contactwith air after emerging from the numerousholes. The net result shows that the total plantbiomass has significantly higher inconventional pots and root trainers than othertreatment. Any environmental change orrestriction might affect the plant morphologicalgrowth. For example, on apple trees caused adecrease in leaf area and dry weight of totalplant, but these growth declines may beexpected where resources are limiting relativeto the ability of the root system to meet theneeds of the top growth (Ferree, 1989). It wasfound that in spring rings under both water androot restrictions branching of the shoot andtotal plant dry matter accumulation weregreatly reduced (Krizek and Dubik, 1987).The actual mechanism by which the differencein plant height among different containerscould occur is not clear. It may be due to thecontainer shape and the openings around springrings that will produce a better growingmedium as a result of better gas exchange. Thegrowing media in containers should have highwater movement, good drainage and aeration(Donahue et al., 1983). The excess water notused by a seedling produces a waterloggedcondition that impairs aeration; this in turnreduces photosynthesis, translocation andgrowth (Sutherland and Day, 1988). It may alsobe that the proliferation of root tips due to airpruning in spring rings could lead to anincrease in root produced hormones.Alternatively, plants grown in spring rings havesuffered from higher levels of moisture loss andhence the reduction in root growth could be aform of stress response. ParametersTable 1. Effect of different containers on root and shoot growth of A. saligna and E. viminalis.Plant height (cm)Leaf area (cm2)Leaf numberLeaf fresh weight (gram)Leaf dry weight (gram)Shoot fresh weight (gram)Shoot dry weight (gram)Total top biomass fresh weight (gram)Total top biomass dry weight (gram)Root length (cm)Root fresh weight (gram)Root dry weight (gram)Total plant biomass fresh weight (gram)Total plant biomass dry weight (gram) Acacia saligna Eucalyptus viminalisCP RT SR CP RT SR57.40b 51.20b 60.90a 85.83a 75.17b 84.90a34.94 24.32 30.69 41.57 37.38 41.2517.67 14.80 14.67 179.20 174.80 189.4017.14a 11.79b 13.63a 6.77b 7.99a 6.43b3.20a 2.25b 2.93a 2.72 2.71 2.675.35 4.47 5.58 7.85b 6.30b 8.64a1.46 1.26 1.77 3.26a 2.39b 3.44a22.49 16.26 19.21 17.33 16.99 17.744.66 3.51 4.70 5.97 5.10 6.1116.43c 23.70a 19.90b 14.80c 21.40a 19.20b15.19a 6.20b 5.52b 11.77b 16.30a 11.63b4.74a 2.73b 3.52ª 1.60b 2.28a 1.76b58.77 49.68 49.32 29.10 33.30 29.379.40a 6.24b 8.22ª 7.57 7.38 7.87CP: Conventional Nursery Pot; RT: Root Trainer; SR: Spring Ring; Level of significance (0.05)Within each row means followed by a different letter are significantly different from each other.In E. viminalis, conventional pots producedplants with maximum height but did not vary257significantly from spring rings. No significantdifferences are seen among different containers

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