Propagation, Cultivation and Reintroduction of Paphiopedilum armeniacum in the Gaoligong Mountains Region

Using fruit capsules obtained from artificial cross-pollination of wild populations of Paphiopedilum armeniacum in the Gaoligong Mountain area as propagation materials, the viability of P. armeniacum seeds was determined by the TTC (2,3,5-triphenyltetrazolium chloride) method. Asymbiotic germination was employed to record the germination time and rate of P. armeniacum seeds, followed by subculture and strong seedling cultivation to obtain a large number of aseptic seedlings. After ex vitro cultivation management, the seedlings were reintroduced into the native habitat of P. armeniacum for subsequent monitoring and evaluation. Results showed that the viability of wild-pollinated seeds of P. armeniacum was 68.25%. In the germination medium, the embryos began to swell at 20 days, and the testa was broken through 17 days later. The average germination rate was statistically 75.63%. Seedlings thrived in subculture and strong seedling media, and were ready for ex vitro planting when reaching an average height of 8～9 cm, leaf length of 4～5 cm, 2～3 roots, and root length of 7～8 cm. Through two-way ANOVA of cultivation substrates and time, the optimal substrate for P. armeniacum seedling cultivation was screened as a 1:2 (v:v) mixture of lanstone and bark. The number of leaves, leaf length, root number, and root length showed significant increasing trends with extended cultivation time, and the growth rate of leaf length accelerated obviously after 360 days. A highly significant interaction was found between cultivation time and reintroduction time. Long-term reintroduction monitoring indicated the importance ranking of factors affecting the survival rate of P. armeniacum as cultivation time (influence coefficient 0.11) > average humidity (0.32) > average temperature (0.54) > reintroduction time (−0.02). The optimal reintroduction scheme was determined to be 720 days of cultivation, which could enable the reintroduction survival rate of P. armeniacum to exceed 90%.