Effects of New Compounds into Substrates on Seedling Qualities for Efficient Transplanting

Automating vegetable seedling transplanting has led to labor-saving opportunities and improved productivity. Some changes in seedling agronomy are necessary for efficient transplanting. In this study, the local nursery substrates were added with the herbaceous peat, the sphagnum peat, and the coir peat, respectively. Effects of the new compound substrates were investigated on the seedling growth qualities and the root substrate strength. In the results, we found that the addition of three compound mediums significantly affected the physiochemical properties of the original substrates. Under the same conditions of cultivating seedlings, appropriate additions of new compounds promoted the seedling growth. Moreover, deficient or excessive additions inhibited the growing development of seedlings and their roots. The corresponding additions also improved the structural characteristics of the root lumps. Compared with the two other compounds, the nursery substrates added with the sphagnum peat were optimized in contribution to the seedling qualities and the root substrate strengths. As the local substrate and the sphagnum peat were mixed at a volume ratio of 2:1, the dry matter accumulation of seedlings was 2.18 times more than the original. Their root lumps had the best consolidation strength. This new compound of substrates may be an effective application for the necessary qualities of seedlings for automatic transplanting.