Nursery practices and field performance for the endangered Mediterranean species Abies pinsapo Boiss.

In the nursery production of Abies pinsapo there have been changes in container, growing media types, and fertilization in the last 10 years. In this research, five types of standard A. pinsapo planting stock were raised under different cultivation periods (2 and 3 years), growing media (soil-peat-organic soil mixture), and fertilizer applications (234, 339 and 397 mg of N). At the end of the nursery cultural treatments, the five planting stock types from the different treatments were morphologically and physiologically different. Five years after outplanting, seedlings grown from 3-year-old containerized stock were the tallest (averaging 38cm) and had an excellent survival (85-90%). However, 2-year-old containerized stock also showed a very high survival (80-100%) with similar height growth (averaging 32 cm). In the split-plot analysis, survival was positively related to subsoil percentage in the growing media and fertilization. In term of morphological attributes of planting stock, height, diameter and height: diameter ratio seems to be negatively correlated to mortality. The results indicate that, in terms of field performance and seedling cost, containerized 2-year-old seedlings, 40% peat media and moderate level of N fertilization may enhance the field performance of A. pinsapo plantations and be a good initial point for new research to improve planting stock. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.