Innovatinsscheck-Plus Green Legacy
Abstract
Polyter stands out in that it is a commercially available high quality agricultural hydrogel with a synthetic component of only 5%, the rest being organic material. This makes it more environmentally friendly than conventional agricultural super absorbent polymers. This characteristic makes the application of Polyter to help newly planted tree seedlings in the forest to better survive droughts interesting. It is a big problem of forestry that newly planted tree seedlings do not survive the first or second summer because the root system is still small, making the plants sensitive to drought events. The idea is to add a polymer to the planting pit, as the polymer will absorb large amounts of water that the plant can use during a drought. However, Polyter’s performance in practise and its effect on trees’ roots system and mycorrhiza development is unknown. The proposed research has he following objectives: • to examine the properties of the polymer and its effect on soil moisture; • to test whether addition of the polymer to the planting pit affects plant growth during drought; • to test what is the effect oft he water absorption and the fertilization on plant performance; and • to examine the effect of the polymer on root and mycorrhiza distribution. Two-year-old tree seedlings of Beech (Fagus sylvatica) Larch (Larix Europea) Norway spruce (Picea Abies) and Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) will be planted in the pots with 4 different treatments: 1) control with only soil, 2) control with addition of nutrients in the form of slow release fertilizer, 3) polymers without nutrients and 4) polymer with nutrients, which is the product intended to be used. Each treatment will be replicated 12 times. Thus,: 4 species x 4 polymer/nutrient treatments x 2 water levels x 12 replicates = 384 pots + 24 control pots without trees = 408 pots. Tree performance as well and root and mycorrhiza distribution will be monitored/measured.
Mycorrhiza Soil amendment tree seedlings
Publikationen
Effect of a water retaining polymer on tree growth, root distribution and mycorrhization under summer drought
Autoren: Šustić, D; Siller, R; Ruda, J; Rewald, B; Sandén, H Jahr: 2017
Conference & Workshop proceedings, paper, abstract
Project staff
Hans Sanden
Priv.-Doz. Dr. Hans Sanden
hans.sanden@boku.ac.at
Tel: +43 1 47654-91240
Project Leader
01.04.2017 - 31.03.2018
Boris Rewald
Assoc. Prof. Dipl.-Biol. Dr.rer.nat. Boris Rewald
boris.rewald@boku.ac.at
Sub Projectleader
01.04.2017 - 31.03.2018
BOKU partners
External partners
Green Legacy GmbH
Enrique Nacif
partner