Alder—Frankia interaction and alder—poplar association for biomass production

Abstract

Alders have an important role to play in biomass producing stands because of their N2-fixing ability and their capacity to withstand soils having an excess of moisture. The objectives of preliminary trials were (1) to find if there is any alder-genotype × Frankia-strain interaction when the effect of inoculating the bacteria was compared to no inoculation in seed beds of different species and provenances of alder, (2) to measure the possible effect of black alders interplanted in poplars compared to pure poplar plots. Two trials were laid out to study the alder-Frankia interaction. Both produced interaction. In the first one the inoculation had a favorable effect on Alnus glutinosa at age 2 years and A. cordata at age 1 and 2 and no effect on A. rubra. In the second one the inoculation had a depressive effect at age 1 on 2 of 3 provenances of A. rubra and no effect on 1 A. rubra, 3 A. glutinosa and 3 A. cordata provenances.