Effects of soil substrate on the survival rate and component characteristics of Zoysia sinica cutting seedlings

In order to explore the effect of soil substrates on cutting seedling survival rate and component of Zoysia sinica, cutting propagation was carried out using 5 different soil substrates including purple soil, humus soil, coarse sand soil, residual soil after construction, and stony soil. The survival rate, germination index, component characteristics and biomass structure parameters were measured. The results showed that the substrate had significant influence (P＜0.05) on the survival rate and germination index of insert spic with the greatest influence on germination number on 9th day and shoot length on 30th day(P＜0.01). Substrate also had significant influence on the root and stem characteristics, underground and above ground biomass of seedling with extremely significant effect (P＜0.01) on the ratio of root to stem and underground biomass ratio, however, had very little influence on the leaf characteristics. Purple soil was helpful to the tiller formation, and residual soil was beneficial to the growth of stem and biomass allocating to the aboveground whereas the stony soil was beneficial to biomass transport to underground. Based on these results, the appropriate technical measures combined with the substrate type should be employed to improve the quality of lawn when planted and maintained.