The soil fungal communities in nurseries producing Abies alba

Abstract

Silver fir is an important forest-forming species in the mountain and upland parts of Poland. It was determined that fir lost the possibility of spontaneous return to the forests of the region. That is why the Polish State Forests has launched a programme to restore its resources in the Sudetes. Until now, fungi and their relationship with fir have not been fully addressed in the Sudetes Restitution Programme, therefore this study was undertaken. The aim of this study was to determine the species composition of soil fungi from quarters producing silver fir seedlings. The research material was rhizosphere soil collected from 3-year-old saplings produced in forest nurseries of the Międzylesie Forest District. Fungal composition was determined by Next-Generation sequencing (Illumina NextSeq 500). The total number of OTUs obtained (638 435) included sequences of cultivated horcultured fungi (433 412 OTUs = 52.7%), non-cultivable fungi, that is which cannot be cultured (97 108 OTUs = 22.41 %) and potential fungi with no reference sequence in UNITE (73 419 OTUs = 16.93%) and non-fungal organisms (34 496 = 7.96%). The following taxa as Mortierella sp. (8.23%). Tylospora sp. (6.68%) and Russula sp. (3.76%) had the largest share in the soil fungal communities. The results of the study indicate the dominance of saprotrophic and mycorrhizal fungi in the communities of fir roots, which proves that saplings are of good quality. Small share of pathogens sequences suggests that soil-born fungal pathogens are not a major threat to fir seedlings in nurseries.
 Key words: mycorrhizal fungi, nursery, Abies alba, seedlings, Międzylesie Forest District.

The community of soil fungi associated with the western red cedar (Thuja plicata Donn ex D. Don, 1824)

“…Basidiomycota taxa did not dominate in every fungal community in the soil. However, in most trials, the Basidiomycota group's fungi were dominant, confirmed by Behnke-Borowczyk et al (2020).…”

“…Results were subjected to bioinformatic analysis according to Behnke-Borowczyk et al (2020). Obtained sequences were compared using the BLAST algorithm with the reference sequences from the NCBI database (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov).…”

Variability of Functional Groups of Rhizosphere Fungi of Norway Spruce (Picea abies (L.) H.Karst.) in the Boreal Range: The Wigry National Park, Poland

“…The development of molecular methods, including next-generation sequencing, has enabled the full spectrum of microorganisms from tested samples to be identified and quantified. Consequently, this progress in technology has changed the possibilities for research in this field, from just observing a single taxon to monitoring the whole community and facilitating the identification of the interactions between functional and phylogenetic groups [ 28 ].…”

Effects of nursery production methods on fungal community diversity within soil and roots of Abies alba Mill.

“…When taking ongoing climate change into account, these attributes could result in not only a stronger limit on range, but also a strong effect on natural regeneration and growth, making this species with its discrete provenances adapted to specific mountain conditions more prone to extinction. For this reason, the State Forests (Poland) introduced a programme of artificial restoration of valuable and unique fir resources in the Sudeten Mountains[2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10] .Both biotic and abiotic factors strongly affect plant growth in forest stands, but even more significantly regulate seedling growth in the initial stages, even in forest nurseries11,12 . High soil fertilisation and overwatering could play a large role in seedlings' inability to adapt in order to overcome future water deficits, but can also positively result in a root and associated fungal community composition characterised by acquisitive ability within competitive mountain environments[13][14][15] .…”