The establishment of appropriate trees in arid and semi-arid regions that are at risk of desertification is an important stepto control soil erosion and reforestation of degraded lands.The success of tree planting, especially in the Zagros forests due to low rainfall, shortage of water resources or difficult access conditions, is not satisfied.One way to overcome this problem is use of absorbent polymers, which increase the water holding capacity of light soils and will enhance the success of vegetation development programs.In this study, the use of a water-absorbent polymer or hydrogel (brand ofHerbosorb) to help in reforestation and the establishment of three species of forest trees: oak (Quercusbrantii L.), pistachio (PistaciaatlanticaDesf.) and hackberry (CeltiscaucasicaWilld.), that are native plants and resistant to the conditions, in lower edge of the ruined land of Zagros forests,Ilamprovince, is tested.The factorial experiment in a completely randomized design with three replications was conducted and it was determined the effect of two factors superabsorbent and species.The results showed that there is no significant difference in survival between the species,but the difference between the treated superabsorbent at 95% is significant and shows that the superabsorbent has a positive effect (about 17%) on survival. According to the same habitat requirements of species,interaction between tree species and superabsorbent treatment was not significant in this study.
