A comparison of growth of seedling and micropropagated Eucalyptus marginata (Jarrah) I. Early growth to 2 years

Abstract

Growth and morphology of Eucalyptus marginata seedlings was compared, in glass-house and field experiments, with micropropagated plantlets derived from the crowns of mature trees. In the glasshouse experiment, the plantlets were shorter and more branched than seedlings; leaf shape and arrangement resembled mature, not juvenile, foliage. The total root length of plantlets was less than seedlings, but diameters were similar. The two soil types used in the glasshouse experiment, a peat/sand mixture and lateritic forest soil, affected the growth of the plants, probably due to the different cation exchange and waterholding capacities of the soils. In the field, after two years growth in lateritic soil, micropropagated plants were taller than seedlings, had no lignotuber and lacked the basal coppice growth which is typical of E. marginata. There is considerable difference between seedlings and micropropagated plants in form, growth and survival.