Effect of Different Water-Retaining Agents and 1-Aminobenzotriazole Rooting Powder on the Survival of Ornamental Tree Transplants

Abstract

Tree transplanting has become a crucial technical tool in both national afforestation projects and the development of garden greening. The demand for creating green ecological urban environments has significantly increased with the development of modern urbanization and improved living standards. Consequently, there is an increasing need for ornamental trees in urban construction. Ensuring higher survival rates in tree transplantation technology is of utmost importance. Given that temperature strongly influences tree growth, it is imperative to investigate how different water-retaining agents (WRAs) and 1-aminobenzotriazole (ABT) rooting powder impact the survival rate of transplanted ornamental trees. After transplantation, ornamental trees were subjected to varying dosages of WRAs and concentrations of ABT rooting powder, and their cold tolerance (CT) was evaluated using the conductivity method and growth test. The results revealed that the application of rooting powder significantly enhanced the CT of willow trees by 24.4%, 14.7%, and 30.2% in September, December, and March, compared with untreated ones. For the same months, the CT of magnolia trees increased by 57.4%, 23.7%, and 16.8%. Additionally, during those months, the CT of cypress trees treated with WRAs showed remarkable improvement, increasing by 108.9%, 108.9%, and 108.9%, respectively, with enhancements of 6.6% and 27.3% compared to untreated cypress trees. These findings highlight the crucial importance of investigating the impact of various WRAs and ABT rooting powder on the survival rate of transplanted ornamental trees, establishing a crucial benchmark for future advancements in this domain.