BioMatNet Item: AIR2-CT94-1149 - Improvement of the Quality of Forest Seedlings and Mediterranean Reforestation Using Controlled Mycorrhizal Infection

AIR2-CT94-1149
Improvement of the Quality of Forest Seedlings and Mediterranean Reforestation Using Controlled Mycorrhizal Infection

Contacts
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AIR Cluster IX - Forestry : Forestry

	Contract No	AIR1-CT92-0041
	Total Cost	4 143 789
	EC Contribution	2 500 000
	Start Date	01/01/1993
	Duration	33 months

OBJECTIVE:

The Mediterranean forest plays an important role in the protection of soil, the restoration of landscape and the conversion of agricultural set-aside land. The application of the new directives of the CAP necessitate a rapid improvement in the techniques of reforestation in the Mediterranean region. Transplantation stress, a major difficulty in reforestation, is particularly acute in this region, characterised by its hard climatic, pedological and economic conditions. Young trees which are poorly adapted physiologically to these conditions do not survive long periods of drought and poor soil, and so the survival rates after outplanting are low. This leads to a considerable increase in the cost of reforestation.

Recent studies show that the survival rate after outplanting may be increased by using genetically improved seeds, by optimising the conditions of production and by controlled mycorrhizal infection of the young seedlings in the nursery; these factors improve the physiological quality and resistanceof the plants.

The objective of this poject is to use controlled micorrhizal infection to produce forest seedlings which are best adapted to the conditions of the Mediterranean environment. To attain this objective, the quality of micorrhizal plants produced in nurseries must be improved by a rational choice of forest species and the associated mycorrhizal fungi, and by optimisation of the techniques of production of the plants. The improvements acheived under nursery conditions will be tested in situ in experimental reforestation trials.

The approach is based on the production of high quality forest seedlings, innoculated with selected mycorrhizal fungi at the nursery stage. The objective of the project can be acheived because of the close collaboration between the various levels of the plantation chain: improvement, production and use of forest seedlings.

The expected results are:

( i ) The extension of existing knowledge on the tree/mycorrhizal fungus interactions at a cellular level, the acquisition of new understanding of the effects of mycorrhizal infection on the mineral nutrition of the host-plant, and the assessment of the competitiveness of the fungal strains introduced into the field.
( ii ) The expansion of the micorrhizal technology (optimisation of plant and fungal material and adaptation of the associated planting techniques, production of a high quality inoculum and of controlled mycorrhizal seedlings adapted to the outplanted conditions, on an industrial scale and setting up of objective, reproducable and practical methods to characterise mycorrhyzae produced in the nursery) and its transfer to other situations of the Mediterranean basin.
( iii ) A reduction in the costs of reforestation in the Mediterranean region by the improvement in the survival and initial growth rates of the seedlings after out-planting, and an increase in timber production in productive areas.
( iv ) A rationalisation of nursery techniques, which will lead to a decrease of inputs in nurseries.
( v ) The production of the Mediterranean environment by the reduction of soil erosion and the improvement of the biological and physico-chemical properties of the soil.

Micorrhizal association between Pinus pinaster and Laccaria bicolor on a vermiculite/perlite mixture: L. bicolor basidiocarp; dichotomous ectomycorrhizae

Contacts

Coordinator

Dr Daniel MOUSAIN / Laboratoires de Recherches sur les Symbiotes des Racines / FRANCE

EC Scientific Officer

Alexandros ARABATZIS / European Commission DG Research Theme 1 Key Action 5.3 / BELGIUM

Participant