Combating hydrophobicity issues to improve seedling survival in a revegetation program

The practice of using nursery-raised seedlings is becoming popular in revegetation programs. However, this practice often results in low survival of seedlings in the tropics under rainfed conditions, partly due to hydrophobicity of the media used in raising the seedlings. Since the hydrophobicity affects survival of seedlings in the field, techniques to correct hydrophobicity must be investigated. This study shows that the seedlings treated with lime, clay, compost tea or surfactant survived well and for longer periods than those untreated under greenhouse conditions. The results from a field study showed similar trends but the effects of surfactants were less pronounced.