Growing medium standardization for seedling growth of Ailanthus excelsa Roxb. in semi-arid region of Rajasthan

Abstract

A field experiment comprised of eighteen treatments of four growing medium viz.; soil, sand, FYM and Vermicompost in different ratio was conducted to find out best growing medium for Ardu (Ailanthus excelsa) seedlings during June, 2019 to March, 2020 at the Instructional farm, Fruit Science at the College of Horticulture and Forestry, Jhalawar, Agriculture University, Kota (Rajasthan). Seedlings were raised in the polybags of size 6” x 10” under green shed net (50% light intensity) nursery conditions. Maximum growth of Ardu seedlings was observed in T₁₂ [Soil: Sand: Vermicompost (1:1:2)] treatment. T₁₂ treatment combination gave the best height (38.7 cm), collar diameter (7.92 mm), number of leaves (11.50), length of longest tap root (22.65 cm), diameter of tap root (3.79 mm), fresh weight of seedlings (58.67 g), dry weight (27.15 g), and root-shoot ratio (1.09). T₁₂ [Soil: Sand: Vermicompost (1:1:2)] can be used to produce quality planting material of Ardu in shortest possible time.