Influence of cultivation practices on licorice seedling quality

In order to improve seedling efficiency and quality in licorice (Glycyrrhiza uralensis), the influence of cultivation practices,such as seed pot sowing, seed bed sowing or open field sowing on emergence rate, transplanting survival rate and some morphological indicators were studied. These analyses identified the following 1) At 20 d after sowing, the emergence rate was 54.8% and 53.8% under seed pot sowing and seed bed sowing respectively, but only 31.4% under open field sowing. 2) At 60 d after sowing, the transplanting survival rates were 92.3%, 91.1% and 93.5%, respectively, these differences were not significant. 3)Morphological indicators showed greater devellopment in plants in the open field compared to the greenhouse, the most obvious two indexes were average number of leaves and total fresh weight. Our analyses, therefore indicate that licorice showed better morphological indicators, higher survival rate, and a longer nursery period (nearly one year) in open field sowing, but a higher emergence rate and a shorter nursery time (two months) in the greenhouse. We suggest that the use of a greenhouse for sowing licorice seeds could be combined with transplantation of seedlings with green leaves into the field, this combination would improve licorice seedling efficiency and quality, and reduce the nursery cost with respect to time and land in licorice production.