The Influence of Nursery Substrate Formulation Ratio on Ginger Seedlings

This study aimed to screen composite substrate formulations suitable for ginger plug seedling cultivation in the Hunan region that are low-cost and capable of nurturing high-quality seedlings, thereby providing both theoretical and practical foundations for ginger seedling cultivation. Using a commercial seedling substrate as the control（CK）, eleven differently proportioned substrates were prepared by blending peat, vermiculite, and perlite. Plug tray seedling raising was conducted separately for each treatment. After the seedling raising period, samples were taken to observe the morphological characteristics of ginger seedlings under different treatments, and their agronomic traits and physiological indicators were measured. The results indicated that the physical and chemical properties of the composite substrates with different ratios basically met the requirements for seedling substrates. Using principal component analysis（PCA）to comprehensively evaluate various seedling indicators and calculate composite scores, the overall ranking of ginger seedling indicators under plug tray seedling raising was: T11＞T1＞CK＞T6＞T9＞T3＞T10＞T7＞T8＞T2＞T5＞T4.For ginger plug seedling raising, the optimal composite substrate formulation was T11（V peat∶V vermiculite∶V perlite = 3∶2∶2）.