Screening and Inoculant Efficacy of Australian Ectomycorrhizal Fungi on Eucalyptus urophylla in Field

A large field trial of Eucalyptus urophylla inoculated with 43 Australian ectomycorrhizal fungal isolates and 2 indigenous isolates was established at Gaoyao,Guangdong Province to ascertain their compatibility and inoculum efficacy on host growths.Measurements for tree growth were carried out at 6 and 12 months respectively after the establishing of the plantations.There was significantly difference on the increment of both height and diameter breast high between inoculated treatments and blank controls (P0.01).The increase of heights was up to 27.4% at 24 months after transplanting,and 19.3% for basal diameter.The results demonstrated that all fungal isolates could greatly enhanced the growths of E.urophylla at early stage of this research.Fungal isolates E0710 (Laccaria),H4670 (Labyrinthomyces), E4501 (Amanita),E2013 (Laccaria),C9301 (Pisolithus),H1272 (Scleroderma),H1194 (Thaxterogaster),H0603 (Scleroderma),H4011(Labyrinthomyces),H1235(Protubera) were proved to be more efficient for E.urophylla than others,and have great potential for commercial inoculation programs in southern China.The variety of effects of two inoculum types (either spore suspension or cultured mycelium) was also discussed.More attention will be put on the persistence of introduced fungal isolates in field.