Pitch canker, caused by the fungus Fusarium circinatum, is a major disease of Pinus radiata currently controlled to some extent in nurseries by good hygiene and application of synthetic fungicides. The aim of this study was to evaluate alternative strategies to control fungal infections in nurseries and young pine plantations. The antagonistic effects of biocontrol bacteria and essential oils a...

Seed production was studied in cones from 18 clones of radiata pine (Pinus radiata D. Don) replicated within and between four contrasting sites. At one site which was phosphate-deficient, number of full seeds per cone, along with cone volume #nd mean seed weight, was about one-third less than elsewhere. Empty seeds, although never completely absent, were prevalent only in occasional cones. Such...

Plantations of rapidly growing trees are becoming increasingly common because the high productivity can enhance local economies, support improvements in educational systems, and generally improve the quality of life in rural communities. Landowners frequently choose to plant nonindigenous species; one rationalization has been that silvicultural productivity is enhanced when trees are separated ...

This work was carried out to examine the hypothesis that differences mAgrobacterium tumefaciens susceptibility observed among Pinus radiata D.Don clones and families after stem inoculation in vitro can be attributed to differences in growth rate at the time of inoculation. Agrobacterium tumefaciens strain 542 was used to inoculate in vitro shoots of 90 clones divided among 14 full-sib P. radiat...

The genetic control of propagation effects and the impact of stock-plant age and source was examined in 9 month-old Pinus radiata cuttings. The cuttings investigated were propagated from stock-plants aged between 2 and 5 years, and microcuttings propagated from 12 week old stock-plants. The design included 20 families, with seven clones per family and an average of seven ramets per clone. Five ...

The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) expects forestry plantations to contribute to biodiversity conservation. A well-developed understory in forestry plantations might serve as a surrogate habitat for native species and mitigate the negative effect of plantations on species richness. We experimentally tested this hypothesis by removing the understory in Monterey pine (Pinus radiata) pla...