Effect of Different Cultivation Beds, Species, and Types of Seed Culture on Benching Crown Formation in Pistacia vera L.

This study investigated the effects of soil texture, tree cultivars, and seed-sowing techniques on pistachio cultivars crowns' growth. The main research question addressed the effect of these factors on various morphological traits of pistachio seedlings, including leaf number, leaf area, stem length, and the occurrence of spiral crowns. A factorial experiment with randomized design and 5 replications. Seeds were sown in the orientation of seeds: up tip, down tip, and horizontal. Four ratios of culture media treatments using sand, peat moss, perlite, and farm soil were used. The findings indicated that the morphology of pistachio seedlings was significantly influenced by the selection of the culture medium. Besides, different types of seeds, including P. vera cv. Badami, P. integerrima and P. mutica affected the growth parameters. The highest leaf area was due to medium 3 with P. vera cv. Badami seeds were grown with their up tips (84.9 cm2) and medium 1 with P. integerrima seeds were grown with their horizontal (67.5 cm2). The highest number of leaves was found in medium 2 containing P. vera cv. Badami seeds are grown with down tips (28.2). The highest seedling stem diameter and stem length were associated with media 2 and 3 with P. vera cv. Badami cultivation in the form of up and horizontal tips averaged 7.6 mm, 35.4 cm, and 38.8 cm respectively. For spiral crown, media 1 and 2 had the highest percentage. In these media, all seeds showed a high percentage of spiral crowns.