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Home → Publications → Nursery Manuals → Forest Nursery Manual—Bareroot → Chapter 23: Assessing Seedling Quality

Chapter 23: Assessing Seedling Quality

Characteristics of planting stock which reflect quality (defined here as performance potential) are categorized as either "performance" attributes or "material" attributes. Performance attributes, such as root-growth potential, cold hardiness, and stress resistance, are assessed by subjecting whole seedlings to certain environmental regimes and evaluating their response. Because performance attributes are integrators of all or many seedling subsystems, they often correlate well with seedling performance potential; however, they tend to require laborious and time-consuming procedures. Material attributes, such as dormancy status, water relations, nutrition, and morphology, are assessed by measuring the attribute in question by any number of direct or indirect methods.


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Author(s): Gary A. Ritchie

Publication: Nursery Manuals - Forest Nursery Manual—Bareroot