ABSTRACT
Objective: To find a solution to the problems in the growth of tissue cultured seedlings of Polygonatum cyrtonema, such as low seedling survival rate, poor growth, and leaf disease. Method: In this study, tissue cultured seedlings of P. cyrtonema were used as testing plants. Two types of commercially-available cultivation medium commonly used in Fujian Province, as well as six types of cultivation medium mixed using peat soil, pearlite, roseite, sand, fungi residues and plant ash were used as the raw materials; Among them, a customized nutrient solution was added into the T5 and T7 cultivation media. Besides measuring the physicochemical properties of the cultivation media mentioned above, the study focused on the evaluation of their influence on the rate of grown-up seedlings, biological characteristics, growth biomass, strength index and incidence of leaf disease of P. cyrtonema. It also attempted to find the correlation between the physicochemical properties of the cultivation media and the biological characteristics, growth biomass, as well as the strength index of tissue cultured seedlings of P. cyrtonema. Results: The difference in the cultivation media had a great influence on the tissue cultured seedlings of P. cyrtonema in the rate of grown-up seedlings, biological characteristics, growth biomass, strength index and incidence of leaf disease. The difference in bulk density of the cultivation media had a notable negative correlation with the plant height of the tissue cultured seedlings of P. cyrtonema. The difference in the organic content of the cultivation media had a notable positive correlation with the fresh weight and dry weight of the tissue cultured seedlings of P. cyrtonema. Treated with the T5 cultivation medium we prepared, the tissue cultured seedlings of P. cyrtonema were in better growing condition in the rate of grown-up seedlings, morphological index, growth bomass, strength index, and no disease was found on the leaf. Conclusion: The prepared T5 was worth being widely used as the cultivation medium for growth of tissue cultured seedlings of P. cyrtonema.