Bilan croissance-qualité d'un essai de mycorhization contrôlée sur chêne pédonculé, 16 ans après plantation

Abstract

The trees in a 16 year old plantation of pedunculate oak (Quercus robur L.) in north-eastern France, grown from planting stock both mycorrhizated with the fungus Paxillus involutes and untreatec material, have been studied for growth, natural pruning and epicormic shoots. The results show that the initial growth stimulation due to controlled mycorrhization was still significant in terms of total height, but that the fungal treatment had no effect on the height or diameter of the first live branch. The trees initially mycorrhizated with P. involutus tended to form more epicormic shoots, with a higher frequency of clustered ones. However, most of these epicormic shoots are very small and short-lived, and the overall conclusion is that the extra growth provided by controlled mycorrhization has not been impaired by any side effects on stem quality.