Seed germination and seedling growth of Scots pine in technogenically polluted soils as container media

Reforestation of technologically polluted areas has become an increasingly important issue. In this study, seed germination capacity and survival rate and morphometric characteristics of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) seedlings grown in a magnesite-polluted soil medium were investigated in a pot experiment. Significant differences in seed field germination, sprout survival, seedling length at various growth stages, and root collar diameter of the seedling were discovered between the trial variants for the pot trial using growing media from the polluted areas and the control site. In addition, it was observed that the differences between the trial variants depended on seed origin and the level of soil pollution. The data indicate that seed germination and seedling growth were significantly reduced as the levels of pollution increased. These negative effects of the pollution tend to increase as the seedling gets older. © 2019, Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
Ural Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences
Acknowledgements The work was carried out within the framework of the State task of the Botanical Garden of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The authors would like to thank Prof. Dr. Oktay YILDIZ, Düzce University, Faculty of Forestry, in Turkey, and Prof. Dr. Sergey MENSHIKOV Botanical Garden Ural Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences, Yekaterinburg, Russia, for their contributions to the paper.