Bareroot and containerized seedlings (seedling type) of Norway spruce, Scots pine, European larch, European beech, and sycamore maple were outplanted in autumn 2008 and in spring 2009. Roots of a half of the seedlings were dipped into the commercial fungal product Ectovit prior to spring outplanting. Fifty seedlings were planted for each tree species and seedling type in each of 3 treatments (Autumn, Spring, Spring+Ectovit) and 3 replications (4,500 seedlings in total). Eighty-one per cent of containerized and 75% of bareroot seedlings (most -89% of bareroot spruce, least -59% of bareroot pine seedlings) survived after the first growing season. Planting time and Ectovit did not have a marked effect on survival, with the exception of the lower survival of containerized beech and spruce in autumn than in spring. The most extensive damage caused by game and mechanical weed control was found out in both broadleaves; most of the dry leading shoots occurred in beech. Besides beech, higher annual height increment of seedlings was observed in autumn than in spring planting time. Effect of Ectovit on seedling growth was not obvious.
Laboratory-produced alginate-bead inoculum of ectomycorrhizal (ECM) fungi Cortinarius sp. and Gomphidius glutinosus, fungal commercial products ECtovit<sup>® </sup>and Trichomil<sup>®</sup>, bacterial commercial product BactoFil B<sup>®</sup>, and commercial rooting stimulator Vetozen<sup>®</sup> were applied to a peat-perlite (1:2, v:v) rooting substrate of Norway spruce stem cuttings collected from 4-year-old nursery-grown seedlings immediately before the insertion of cuttings into the substrate. The application of beads free of fungi and the substrate without an additive were the other treatments. The cuttings were rooted in vessels (60 cuttings per vessel, 180 per treatment) placed in a glasshouse and arranged in a randomized complete block design. The cuttings were estimated for one growing season (approximately for 26 weeks) after their insertion into the rooting substrate. Rooting % of the cuttings ranged from 45 (mycelium-free beads) to 75 (control) according to treatments, 64 on average. No significant differences among treatments were found in % of ECM morphotypes, total ECM colonization of roots (%), and growth parameters of shoots and roots of the cuttings. The applied microbial additives were not sufficiently efficient to form treatment-related ectomycorrhizas that were formed by naturally occurring ECM fungi. Inoculation by the ECM fungus Cortinarius sp. and application of Trichomil had a partial stimulative effect on the shoot growth of cuttings. Shoot and root growth parameters were not significantly correlated with total ECM colonization, except for a negative dependence of the root number in Trichomil treatment. A higher concentration of K but lower concentrations of Ca and Mg in Ectovit treatment than in the other treatments were detected.
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