Olavi Laiho

Further studies on the ectendotrophic mycorrhiza

Laiho O. (1965). Further studies on the ectendotrophic mycorrhiza. Acta Forestalia Fennica vol. 79 no. 3 article id 7161. https://doi.org/10.14214/aff.7161

Abstract

There has not been complete agreement as to what is meant by ectendotrophic mycorrhizae, and there is a wide variety of opinion among authors on mycorrhizal terminology. In this paper ectendotrophic mycorrhizae are defined to be short roots with Hartig net and intracellular hyphae in the cortex. A mantle and digestion of intracellular hyphae may be found but are not necessary. In the study of Mikola (1965) ectendotrophic mycorrhiza was found to be common in Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) seedlings in Finnish nurseries. The mycorrhizae had always similar structure and the mycelium isolated from the seedlings (E-strains) was similar. The aim of this study was to find out what kind of ectendotrophic mycorrhizae exist in forests and nurseries outside Finland, what kind of mycorrhizae do the E-strains isolated from Scots pine form with other tree species, and are these associations symbiotic.

Only one type of ectendotrophic mycorrhiza was found on the 600 short roots collected from the continents of Europa and America. The type was similar to the one described by Mikola: the mycelium is coarse and forms a strong Hartig net, and intracellular infection is heavy. Evidence is convincing that this structure was formed by the same fungus species. The species is unidentified. Mycorrhizae synthesized by E-strain with six spruce species, fir, hemloch and Douglas fir were all ectotrophic.

The E-type ectendotrophic mycorrhizae proved to be a balanced symbiosis. The seedlings of 13 tree species inoculated with the E-strain grew in the experiment better than the controls. The observation that ectendotrophic mycorrhizae dominates in the nurseries but is seldom found in forests, and then only in seedlings growing in the forest, was confirmed in the study. In synthesis experiments E-strain formed either ecto- or ectendotrophic mycorrhiza depending on the tree species.

Keywords
Pinus sylvestris; Scots pine; Finland; tree species; distribution; Europe; ecology; mycorrhiza; seedlings; tree nurseries; occurrence; America

Published in 1965

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