Effects of Substitute Media on Development of Potted Cyclamen percicum Mill.

Five kinds of agricultural castoffs, such as sawdust and powder of coconut coir, were used as growing media to substitute the peat moss for potted Cyclamen percicum. It showed that most of the substitute media could fit for the growth of the root system without disturbing the spatial development of the root. The root activities of the plants in substitute media were all higher or not significantly lower than that in the contrast peat moss (PM). The substitute media might not make adverse effects on the biosynthesis of chlorophyll of C. percicum leaves, and the nutrient components contained in the substitute media itself was none of the content of mineral elements in the leaves. The morphological indexes of C. percicum plants growing in the substitute media except in the powder of coconut coir (PCC) were all better than those in the contrast PM. The synthetically evaluation index of the plant showed that the sawdust, the powder of maize core, the powder of soybean stalk, the powder of peanut hull could take place the peat moss totally in C. percicum industrialization cultivation.