Document Type : Research Paper
Authors
1
Master's student in Forest Management, Department of Forestry, Faculty of Natural Resources, Tarbiat Modares University, Noor, Iran
2
Department of Forestry, Faculty of Natural Resources, Tarbiat ModaresProfessor, Department of Forestry, Faculty of Natural Resources, Tarbiat Modares University, Noor, Iran University
3
Assistant Prof., Research Division of Natural Resources, Mazandaran Agricultural and Natural Resources Research and Education Center, AREEO, Bandarabbas, Iran
4
Senior expert of the General Directorate of Natural Resources and Watershed Management, Mazandaran, Sari, Iran
5
PhD student in Forestry and Forest Ecology, Department of Forestry, Faculty of Natural Resources, Tarbiat Modares University, Noor, Iran
10.22034/ijf.2023.388743.1920
Abstract
Introduction and Objective: Biochar is a substance rich in porous carbon, which is considered as a soil amendment, with the ability to preserve food and water, and increase the drought tolerance in plants. The present study was aimed to use the biochar (originating from hornbeam wood and pyrolysis temperature of 450 °C) on the survival, growth and physiological traits of Arizona cypress (Cupressus arizonica Green) seedlings under rainfed and irrigation conditions in a mountainous degraded forest (Do-Ab in Savadkouh region, north of Iran).
Material and Methods: The experiment was conducted in the form of a completely random design for five months in the dry months of spring and summer. The combination of treatments included: 1) control soil-irrigation 2), control soil-rainfed, 3) soil treated with biochar-irrigation 4) and soil treated with biochar-rainfed. Two-way analysis of variance was used to determine the significant effect of the treatments and paired t-test was used to compare the means.
Results: The results showed that regardless of the effect of soil treatment, irrigated seedlings had greater survival (90%) compared to rainfed seedlings (56%). This is despite the fact that in rainy conditions, the survival rate in the biochar treatment was 75% and almost twice that in the control soil. In both rainfed and irrigation conditions, the seedlings grown with biochar had larger sizes than the control soil. Regardless of the effect of soil treatment, the rates of photosynthesis and transpiration decreased in rainfed condition. Like the irrigation treatment, the biochar treatment caused an increase in gas exchanges (20-60%) compared to those in the control soil. Mesophilic conductance, relative water content and photosynthetic pigments were higher in irrigation treatment than in rainfed condition.
Conclusion: In order to restore the degraded forests of the semi-arid mountainous regions of the north of Iran with Arizona cypress seedling, it is better that in the early years, the seedlings be managed by irrigation without applying biochar, but in rainfed conditions it is recommended to use biochar.
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