Early growth of saplings of selected chestnut (Castanea spp.) taxa raised in vegetation cells, hydrogel enriched substrate, or soil

Climate change mitigation strategies, which include distributing ecological risk over a greater number of tree species in forest ecosystems, increase the attractiveness of cultivating chestnut in selected areas of Slovakia. Artificial restoration practices are important tools for preservation and improvement of the current status of chestnut. However, ongoing technology advances have tended to provoke their revision and actualization. The aim of this study was to examine the effect of sowing on the early growth of saplings of selected chestnut taxa. Chestnut seeds collected from Castanea mollissima (C. moll.), C. crenata (L7) and hybrids C. crenata ?? C. sativa (C6, B12) were germinated and sowed into the following treatments: vegetation cells (VC), growing sub??? strate enriched by hydrogel (H), or loam soil (C), then raised under standard cultivation condi??? tions over one growing season. During the growing season, the aboveground height was measured every 2 weeks. Despite slightly higher values of height of the aboveground parts of saplings C.moll., B12, and C6 grown in VC, and L7 grown in H, than saplings grown in C, analysis of vari??? ance did not reveal these differences as statistically significant. On the other hand, significant differences were observed in the aboveground height of the chestnut taxa. Saplings of C. moll. (28.9 cm) and L7 (25.3 cm) grew significantly taller than hybrids C6 and B12 (17.3 cm and 13.2 cm). Our findings suggest that cultivation of chestnut saplings in VC or H under standard growing conditions does not stimulate growth in height during early growth stages.