English

Abstract

The production of quality native plants materials is essential to large- scale reclamation efforts being undertaken at mine sites throughout the United States. Some studies have shown that nursery inoculation with arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi improved survival, growth, and drought tolerance of installed tree and shrub seedlings. The production of AM-colonized plant material, however, has proven problematic due to a lack of integration between the biotechnical firms that produce inoculum and cultural procedures at commercial nurseries. The objective of our research has been to integrate mycorrhizal inoculum successfully into a nursery program, thereby, producing plant materials with improved outplanting performance. Multiple studies were conducted to investigate the efficacy of various inoculum products, the influence of growth media types, and the influence of standard fertilization techniques on the ability of AM fungi to colonize plant materials under nursery conditions. Our research has resulted in a growth media which promotes colonization of plant materials by AM inoculum in a nursery environment. Plants produced by this tecnhique have significantly higher colonization rates than controls. This study reviews the results of greenhouse trials to increase AM-colonization rates in plant materials and outplanting field trials established in Oregon, Montana, and Utah to compare traditionally grown seedlings with those grown in the AM-promoting growth media formulation.