Technological Breakthrough for the Afforestation of Populus euphratica in the Mu Us Desert in China

Abstract

The Mu Us Desert (MUD) is one of the four largest sandy lands in China. On 22 April 2020, the Shaanxi Forestry Bureau announced that the desertification land control rate in Yulin reached 93.24%, which means that the Mu Us Desert was about to “disappear” from the territory of Shaanxi. However, the problem of biological diversity, mostly for Pinus sylvestris and shrubs in the Mu Us Desert, remains serious. In order to consolidate the current forest conservation efforts, Populus euphratica has been considered an ideal candidate since the 1950s. However, the low survival rate and conservation rate of Populus euphratica in the MUD led us to perform further large-scale introduction for over 70 years. In this study, by using root control seedling technology, the survival and the conservation rate of Populus euphratica were increased to more than 90%. This study makes possible the introduction of Populus euphratica in the MUD, and the successful introduction of Populus euphratica will provide a new barrier for forest ecosystem stability in the desertification control project in the Yulin area.