Effects of culture bed on morphological and physiological characteristics of of Greek juniper seedlings (Juniperus excelsa M.Bieb.)

Juniperus excelsa is one of the native and valuable Gymnosperm species of Iran belonging to Cupressaceae family. It distributes considerable parts of Irano-Turanian region. According to available problems in natural regeneration and costly process of juniper seedlings production in nurseries an experiment was carried out to investigate effects of culture bed on morphological and physiological characteristics of transplanted one year’s junipers seedlings. Treatments include three culture beds (soil A:16 soil+8 sand, soil B: 20 soil+ 4 dung, soil C: 20 soil+ 2 dung+ 2 sand(usually used in nursery)). Experiment design was completely randomized design. Each treatment included three replicates and each replicate include 20 seedlings (in total 180 seedlings). The results showed that treatments had a significant effect on survival, root biomass and root to shoot biomass ratio. soil A (16 soil +8 sand) was considered to be the best media to provide higher survival and seedling quality.