MARTINÍK ANTONÍN, PALÁTOVÁ EVA, HOUŠKOVÁ KATEŘINA: Impact of pre-sowing treatment and sowing season on Douglas fi r emergence rate in a specifi c seed lot. Acta Universitatis Agriculturae et Silviculturae Mendelianae Brunensis, 2013, LXI, No. 1, pp. 147-155 Not only in the Czech Republic there is a problem with low yield of Douglas fi r seedlings in forest tree nurseries. It can be caused mainly by two factors: the type of pre-sowing treatment and the temperature at the time of sowing. The aim of this study is to fi nd out their infl uence on the emergence rate of Douglas fi r. We have tested one specifi c seed lot originated from the Czech Republic subject to the following variants of pre-sowing treatment: soaking for 48 hours, stratifi cation without a medium for 21 days and for 30 days a er 48 hours of soaking and stratifi cation for 30 days with a medium. The treated seeds were sown in a phytotron at temperatures of 13/8 °C -10/14 hours (day/night) (simulation of early sowing season in February or March) and at temperatures of 17/13 °C -14/10 hours (simulation of late sowing season in May). In case of the early sowing season, approximately half of the germinable seeds emerged in all treatment variants including the control variant (seeds without stratifi cation). The late sowing season resulted in diff erent emergence rate of the seeds that were subject to diff erent variants of pre-sowing treatment (24-51 %). Then, 21day and 30day stratifi cation were not suffi cient for the tested conditions of the early and late sowing season. None of the combinations of pre-sowing treatment and sowing time resulted in full use of the seed potential of the tested seed lot. Douglas fi r, germination capacity, yield of seedlings Douglas fi r as a tree species introduced from western areas of the North American subcontinent has been grown in Europe including the Czech Republic for more than 120 years (Šindelář and Beran, 2004). Today, it covers 4400 ha which represents 0.17 % of forest land in the Czech Republic (Kantor et al., 2010). Annual regeneration, or rather reforestation task, is approximately 300 ha. From the aspect of forestry, Douglas fi r is considered a perspective tree species and according to longterm conceptions of species composition, it is recommended to cover 2 % of the total stand area. In 1994, the Forest Management Institute (ÚHÚL) even recommended its share to represent 4 % of the stand area (in Beran and Šindelář, 1996). In suitable habitats (poorer types) and in areas with seedproducing stands, Douglas fi r regenerates naturally (Šika, 1985;Kinský and Šika, 1987;Bušina, 2006;Kantor et al., 2010). On fertile sites, on sites without seed-producing trees and in areas where Douglas fi r is not present so far, artifi cial regeneration is necessary.Eff ective pre-sowing treatment is essential for successful cultivation of Douglas fi r planting stock for artifi cial regeneration as Douglas fi r seeds exhibit dormancy, although, according to some authors, seed lots that are not dormant can also be...

HOUŠKOVÁ KATEŘINA, MAUER OLDŘICH: Eff ect of the density of transplants in reforestation on the morphological quality of the above-ground part of European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) six years a er planting. Acta Universitatis Agriculturae et Silviculturae Mendelianae Brunensis, 2013, LXI, No. 6, pp. 1703-1713 Quality of the above-ground part of European beech planted at diff erent densities and spacing patterns for the purpose of artifi cial forest regeneration was monitored 3, 4 and 6 years a er planting. The initial numbers of beech transplants were 5,000 pcs.ha Conclusions following out from the research are as follows: 1. neither the chosen density of transplants nor their spacing pattern had an essential infl uence on the a er-planting loss or damage of trees; 2. through the planting of larger-diameter transplants it is possible to achieve canopy closure more rapidly as well as faster growth of the plantation; these beech plants keep the edge in growth and quality even 6 years a er planting; 3. the higher is the beech plantation density, the less individuals occur in such a plantation with inappropriate stem form; 4. beech plants of the worst quality were found on plots with the lowest initial density of transplants (5,000 and 10,000 pcs.ha −1 ), yet the number of promising trees was suffi cient even there. Thus, none of the experimental numbers of transplants per hectare or spacing arrangements of the European beech transplants can be claimed as inappropriate; however, further monitoring of the plots is necessary.European beech, artifi cial regeneration, density of plantations, spacing pattern of transplants, morphological quality of the above-ground part of trees European beech is a woody species, which used to dominate the natural tree species composition in the Czech Republic. However, it had to give place mainly to spruce through management measures, and its share dropped to less than a fi h of the original representation (Collective, 2010). Towards the end of the last century, an emphasis began to be put on the sustainable development and on the principles of near-natural forest management, mainly due to the health problems of spruce stands, and the share of beech stands or mixed stands with the dominant beech started to grow. The current species' representation is 7.3 %, which is still a low level. The desired share is 18 % and for a comparison, the natural representation of beech is 40 % (Collective, 2010). Taking into account the expected further increase of beech in the species composition of our forests, it is necessary to consider not only the natural regeneration of its stands, which is relatively easily feasible (Indruch, 1985) and o en applied in practical use, but also with its artifi cial introduction into forest stands, in which it is missing now (Samec, 1995; Bartoš and Souček, 2010 etc.). The artifi cially established stands can bring the same profi t and quality as the stands established by other methods (Krahl-Urban, 1963).