Effect of film liner packaging with chlorine dioxide on the storage quality of containergrown or bare-root seedlings at cold or frozen temperatures in sawtooth oak and Japanese larch

This study was carried out to discover suitable packaging methods during the cold or frozen storage of sawtooth oak and Japanese larch seedlings, which are major afforestation tree species in Korea. The weight loss rate of sawtooth oak was lower under frozen storage at -2℃ (maximum, 33.7%) than under cold storage at 2℃ (maximum, 61.0%). A film liner treatment inside the packaging box effectively suppressed the increase in the weight loss rate. For the sawtooth oak containerized seedlings, when stored at -2℃, the rate of weight loss was 17.9 to 25.4% in the untreated group and less than 1% in the film liner treatment group. Similar results were observed with Japanese larch. After two months of freezing at -2℃, both species maintained a low index of 1.0 - 1.1 with regard to the degree of shoot desiccation of containerized seedlings, and there was no significant difference between the treatments. On the other hand, the chlorine dioxide treatment could more effectively reduce the occurrence of mold and shoot desiccation than a PE single treatment in bare-root seedlings. According to these results, it was concluded that frozen storage is generally suitable as a means of long-term storage compared to cold storage of sawtooth oak and Japanese larch. A chlorine dioxide treatment at 20 ppm was effective for maintaining seedling quality levels during storage, demonstrating the good effect of suppressing the occurrence of shoot desiccation and the occurrence of mold.