Purpose of Review

The demand for forest tree seedlings is increasing globally, and Sphagnum peat moss is widely used as a component of growing media for container plant production. However, peat extraction is environmentally unsustainable. The forest nursery sector needs to switch to more sustainable alternatives to peat. This review aims to identify potential substitutes for peat by reviewing the worldwide literature on alternative materials for growing media in forest nurseries.

Recent Findings

Most studies on alternative growing media focused on single plant species growing under local conditions, thereby limiting generalizations about the effectiveness of alternative materials for plant production. To our knowledge, no systematic reviews of scientific literature on the effectiveness of new, alternative-to-peat materials for enhancing plant growth and the associated growing media characteristics for the forest nursery sector are currently available.

Summary

Most of the analyzed case studies focused on angiosperms (73.1%), with the majority of studies coming from tropical seasonal forests/savannas (36.5%), followed by woodlands/shrublands (31.6%), and temperate forests (15.0%) biomes. Compost was the most studied material (19.5%), followed by bark, other organic materials, and manure (9.8, 9.7, and 8.0%, respectively). Green and municipal wastes were the principal sources of compost (> 60%), while agriculture and green wastes were the first sources of other materials (> 90%). Tested materials were dependent on the geographic region. Thus, manure was the most tested material in Africa and South America, tree bark in North America, and compost in Europe, Asia, and Oceania. Alternative materials effectively provided optimal physicochemical characteristics of growing media and enhanced seedling nursery growth when compared with peat-based growing media in more than 60% of the case studies. This review helps to identify research gaps and, most importantly, provides the basis for the future application of alternative growing media materials in forest nursery management worldwide.

中文翻译：

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林业苗木生产生长介质的创新、可持续和有效材料的全球综述

审查目的

全球对林木幼苗的需求不断增加，泥炭藓被广泛用作容器植物生产的生长介质的组成部分。然而，泥炭开采在环境上是不可持续的。森林苗圃部门需要转向更可持续的泥炭替代品。本综述旨在通过回顾有关森林苗圃生长介质替代材料的全球文献，确定泥炭的潜在替代品。

最近的发现

大多数关于替代生长介质的研究都集中在当地条件下生长的单一植物物种，从而限制了对植物生产替代材料有效性的概括。据我们所知，目前还没有关于新型泥炭替代材料促进植物生长的有效性以及森林苗圃部门相关生长介质特性的科学文献的系统综述。

概括

大多数分析案例研究集中在被子植物（73.1%），其中大部分研究来自热带季节性森林/稀树草原（36.5%），其次是林地/灌木地（31.6%）和温带森林（15.0%）生物群落。堆肥是研究最多的材料（19.5%），其次是树皮、其他有机材料和粪肥（分别为 9.8%、9.7% 和 8.0%）。绿色和城市废物是堆肥的主要来源（> 60%），而农业和绿色废物是其他材料的首要来源（> 90%）。测试材料取决于地理区域。因此，在非洲和南美洲，粪肥是测试最多的材料，在北美，树皮是测试最多的材料，而在欧洲、亚洲和大洋洲，堆肥是测试最多的材料。在超过 60% 的案例研究中，与基于泥炭的生长介质相比，替代材料有效地提供了生长介质的最佳理化特性，并增强了苗圃的生长。该综述有助于确定研究差距，最重要的是，为未来在全球森林苗圃管理中应用替代生长介质材料提供基础。