Browsing by Author "Rainio, Pauli"

In Norway spruce (Picea abies) dominated mineral soil sites, the polypore Heterobasidion parviporum often causes severe decay problems (butt rot, root rot). Not much is however known on the ability of H. parviporum to cause decay losses in peatland. The purpose of this study was to answer some fundamental question: 1) Is H. parviporum able to cause decay losses in drained mires? 2) Is there an effect of other soil microbes during saprotrophic growth of Heterobasidion on peat soil? 3) What are the potential inhibitory effects of microbes inhabiting peat soil on growth of Heterobasidion? For the decay study, wood discs (P. abies) in mesh bags were buried at the different forest sites; mineral soil and peatlands (including drained mire and undrained mire). The amount of weight loss was documented after four months. The study was repeated in vitro by autoclaving soil samples from these sites together with wood discs followed by inoculation with H. parviporum. On mineral soil, H. parviporum decayed spruce (P. abies) wood disc much more than on non-drained pristine mire. On drained (ditched) mire, no significant difference in the weight loss was observed. H. parviporum grew significantly more on the sterilized soil and decayed more wood, compared to non-sterilized soil. The results suggested that secreted metabolites in the unsterilized soil may be able to significantly suppress saprotrophic growth of H. parviporum. In the fungal growth inhibition experiment, water- and acetone-soluble substances were extracted from the soil with acetone and water. No fungal growth inhibiting substances were detected from the various peat soils or mineral soils.