Abstract
Abstract• ContextAn important feature of forest nursery management is the production of first-rate planting stock, which is closely connected with an adequate development of ectomycorrhizas on seedling roots.• AimsThe aim of this study was to provide a detailed assessment of the ectomycorrhizal (ECM) fungal diversity of European beech grown in bare-root forest nursery conditions.• MethodsMorphological and molecular analyzes were used to identify ECM fungi, quantify fungal richness, and record differences in the relative abundance of individual taxa.• ResultsTwenty-seven different mycorrhizal fungal taxa were found in four tested nurseries. Of these 27, only 6 were present in more than one nursery. Taxa richness in individual nurseries ranged from 6 to 13, indicating that ECM colonization potential is nursery-dependent. The most frequent taxa were:Tubersp. 1,Cadophorasp.,Cenococcum geophilumagg.,Hebeloma sacchariolens, andLaccaria tortilis.According to the analysis of similarity, ECM fungal communities were significantly different between nurseries (R = 0.7741;p < 0.0001).• ConclusionBeech seedlings grown in bare-root nurseries are colonized by a highly diverse suite of ECM fungi; thus, artificial inoculation of seedlings is generally not necessary in nursery practice.
Highlights
European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) is a widespread species of ecological and economic importance in Europe
We present our results in the context of our and other authors’ recent works, describing the ECM fungal community structure of coniferous and deciduous tree species grown in the forest nurseries
We discovered 27 taxa of ECM fungi on 2-year-old beech seedlings from four bare-root nurseries
Summary
European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) is a widespread species of ecological and economic importance in Europe. PCR-based molecular methods and DNA sequencing have been used to identify mycorrhizal fungi for the last 20 years as a matter of routine, and have led to a greater understanding of the composition and structure of the ECM fungal communities of beech in mature forests (Buée et al 2005; Grebenc and Kraigher 2007; Grebenc et al 2009; Pena et al 2010), or on young trees in natural conditions or in pot experiments (Železnik et al 2007; Druebert et al 2009; Pritsch et al 2009) These studies revealed remarkable below-ground ECM fungal taxa richness (16 to 89 taxa), depending on the beech age, and site or experimental conditions. We present our results in the context of our and other authors’ recent works, describing the ECM fungal community structure of coniferous and deciduous tree species grown in the forest nurseries
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