Mass production and assessment of vegetative yield of Populus deltoides Marsh. and P. euramericana (Dode) seedlings

The present study was conducted with the aim of mass production of seedlings of Populus deltoides Marsh. and P. euramericana (Dode) and to investigate the vegetative yield of the produced seedlings. In the first phase of the study, the collected seeds from the poplar collection of Chamestan Forest and Rangeland Research Station were sown in two treatments of pure field soil and soil mixed with sand, and three seed densities in three replications. Then, the number, dimensions and some morphological characteristics of the produced seedlings were investigated. In the second phase of the study, 12 genotypes were selected from the offspring of each of the two species. Sufficient cuttings were obtained from them and planted with cuttings of mother trees in three replications. Their vegetative characteristics were also recorded and analyzed. The results of the first stage showed that the range of changes in diameter, height, number of leaves, leaf length, survival percentage and percentage of seedlings longer than one meter in P. euramericana 92/40 seedlings was significantly higher than P. deltoides  69/55 seedlings. In terms of diameter, height and percentage of seedlings higher than one meter, the pure field soil was significantly superior to the mixed soil. Survival for densities of 50, 100 and 200 seeds per square meter was 32.8%, 19.8% and 10.25%, respectively. The results of the second stage showed that the height and diameter of the mother bases were less than the offspring. The selected genotypes of this study include genotypes 10, 12 and 2 from the offspring of P. deltoides 69/55 and genotype three from the offspring of P. euramericana 92/40 which can be introduced to the implementation section for spacing cultivation experiments, stress resistance study and development of wood cultivation.