Introduction: Some plant species including almonds (Amygdalus spp.) are planted to develop vegetation and restore natural ecosystems in arid areas. This research was carried out in order to compare the results of direct seeding and planting some almond species in Dastjard area in the southwest of Qom province for three years (2019-2021).
Materials and methods: In order to evaluate the seedlings or planting methods of three almond species, a split plot on time experiment was conducted in three replications. The main factor included Bitter almond (Amygdalus communis L.), Tangars almond (Amygdalus lycioides Spach.) and Mountain almond (Amygdalus scoparia Spach.) The secondary factor was planting method included direct seeding and planting. After the end of the growing seasons in the first, second and third year; survival and height growth were evaluated.
Results: The analysis of variance showed that there was a difference between various species, planting methods (direct seeding and planting) and different years, which indicated the effect of each factor on survival and height growth. Comparison of the effect of two planting methods showed that the highest survival was in the direct seeding method and the highest height growth was in the planting method. Also, in the method of direct seeding, the highest of survival was in the Amygdalus scoparia, with an average of 78%, and in the planting method, the highest percentage of survival was in the Amygdalus lycioides, with an average of 76%. In terms of average height growth, Amygdalus communis was superior to other species by 13.9 and 14.9 cm in both direct seeding and planting methods. In terms of annual growth, Amygdalus communis had the highest height growth with 19.7 cm in the third year and Amygdalus lycioides had the lowest height growth with 7.2 cm in the second year.
Conclusion: Based on the results of analysis of variance and comparison of average traits, it is better to use direct seeding method in the development of cultivation of Amygdalus scoparia and Amygdalus lycioides. Although the establishment and survival of Amygdalus communis planting was less than the other two species, but the established plants grew better than the other two species in the following years.