Pisolithus tinctorius ectomycorrhizae reduce moisture stress of Virginia pine on a southern Appalachian coal spoil

Conference · Fri Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1982

OSTI ID:5932807

Walker, R F; West, D C; McLaughlin, S B

The effect of Pisolithus tinctorius ectomycorrhizae on the moisture status of Virginia pine outplanted on sites disturbed during surface mining operations was studied. Nursery grown seedlings with three levels of infection by this fungal symbiont and control seedlings without Pisolithus were outplanted in April 1979 on a coal spoil in Tennessee. The control seedlings were infected with ectomycorrhizal species endemic to the nursery, primarily Thelephora terrestris, and the seedlings with Pisolithus also had minor infections with this symbiont. A split plot design was utilized such that each of the four ectomycorrhizal treatments contained seedlings fertilized at the rate of 336 kg/ha NPK and nonfertilized seedlings. The internal water status of these seedlings was determined in July 1980, a period of high moisture stress, by the pressure chamber technique. Seedling xylem pressure potential was measured at dawn, when internal water stress was least, and again at midlight, when it was greatest. The internal water stress of the control seedlings was greater than that of all but one of the treatments with Pisolithus ectomycorrhizae, and only the treatment with the lowest level of infection with Pisolithus failed to exhibit significantly less stress than the control seedlings. Differences among treatments in seedling size, percent ground cover, and spoil water potential were not sufficient to produce corresponding differences in internal water stress, and the effect of fertilization was not significant.

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-48
• OSTI ID: 5932807
• Report Number(s): CONF-820793-1; ON: DE83015532
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT
010900* -- Coal
Lignite
& Peat-- Environmental Aspects
551000 -- Physiological Systems
553000 -- Agriculture & Food Technology
59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES
BIOLOGICAL EFFECTS
BIOLOGICAL STRESS
COAL MINES
CONIFERS
DATA
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
INFORMATION
MINES
MOISTURE
MYCORRHIZAS
NUMERICAL DATA
PINES
PLANTS
REVEGETATION
SPOIL BANKS
TREES
UNDERGROUND FACILITIES