Planting methods influence revegetation success of native species in an arid environment

In Kuwait, declining native vegetation cover due to prevailing arid conditions and severe anthropogenic disturbances necessitated undertaking revegetation programs. Seed sowing and outplanting of nursery-grown seedlings are the two major plant establishment methods commonly used all around the world. However, the success of plant establishment methods may vary between the species as well as between the methods. Therefore, we compared the effect of sowing of primed or non-primed seeds and outplanting of nursery-grown seedlings on field performance of four dominant native desert species of Kuwait: Vachellia pachyceras, Rhanterium epapposum, Farsetia aegyptia, and Haloxylon salicornicum for 22 months to find the best method for revegetation in arid conditions. A significant species and treatment interaction effect was observed in all plant parameters except plot volume index. Direct sowing of hydro-primed seeds appeared to be the most effective method for establishment and growth of V. pachyceras. In contrast, outplanting of nursery-grown seedlings showed better performance under the field conditions in H. salicornicum and F. aegyptia. These results suggest that direct sowing of primed seeds can also be used effectively along with seedling outplanting for the revegetation of arid lands.

• Publication year

  2023

• Venue

  Canadian Journal of Forest Research

• Publication date

  2023-04-27

• Fields of study

  Not labeled

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.1139/cjfr-2022-0018
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

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