Effects of substrate inoculation with microbial inocula on the development of one-year-old Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) seedlings | Účinky inokulácie substrátu mikrobiálnymi prípravkami na vývin jednoročných semenáčikov borovice lesnej (Pinus sylvestris L.)

Just prior to sowing, bead inoculum, substrate inoculum of the ectomycorrhizal (ECM) fungi and commercial additives Bactomix (beneficial bacteria), Ectovit, Mycorrhizaroots (ECM fungi) were applied to growing substrate placed in PVC vessels. The inoculum was artificially produced in laboratory of the Faculty of Forestry, Technical University in Zvolen. Alginate-bead inoculum contained myceIium of ECM fungi Tricholoma sejunctum (isolate TUZ182), Suillus bovinus (isolate TUZ105) and Cortinarius sp. (isolate TUZ115), the sub strate carrier (verrniculite and peat 20:1) was permeated with mycelium of Tricholoma sejunctum (isolate TUZI82) and Suillus bovinus (isolate TUZ105). Alginate-bead inoculum was prepared according to LE TACON et al. (1983) modified by KROPÁČEK and CUDLÍN (1989), the substrate inoculum according to MARX et al. (1976). Scots pine seedlings has grown under the greenhouse conditions. The growth and nutrient content of needles of seedlings were evaluated after the first growing season. Experiment has been designed as a one factorial in the complete randomized blocks, 8 treatments with 3 repetitions in total. Growth parameters were analysed by analysis of variance followed by a Tukeys test to determine treatment differences. AII analyses were processed using the PC SAS statistical package. We did not observe any differences in the morphology of the fine roots among investigated treatments, what could points on the weak effect of applied fungi and the crucial role of the naturally occurred fungi in formation of ectomycorrhizal structures. Seedlings growing on the substrate treated by Ectovit reached statistically higher average value of the stem height than seedlings treated by Mycorrhizaroots additive. However, on the other hand the Ectovit treatment shows the significantly lower number of fine roots than the Alginate-bead inoculum treatment. In comparison with non-inoculated seedlings, no significant effect of applied inoculum on the monitored parameters was recorded. The content of basic chemical elements was sufficient in all investigated treatments, except the phosphorus that reached only the threshold values. The seedlings inoculated by substrate inoculum showed higher content of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium than the other treatments. The results suggest to the low effect of applied additives on estimated parameters of seedlings, what is probably caused by favorable growing conditions.