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10.9 Mycorrhizae and plantation forestry
Authors: Ian R. Hall, Chris PerleyPublication: NZIF Forestry Handbook, Volume Section 10 – Forest health and protection, pp 9, Dec 2023
Publisher: New Zealand Institute of Forestry
Abstract: Mycorrhizae are intimate associations between the roots of plants and certain fungi that have evolved over the past 130 to 407 million years (Berbee & Taylor 1993; Lepage et al. 1997; Strullu-Derrien et al. 2018). By and large these associations are obligate for both the plants and the fungi and one cannot grow without the other. There are several kinds of mycorrhizal associations but most foresters are only likely to bump into the arbuscular and ectomycorrhizal groups. The arbuscular or endomycorrhizal relationship was the first to evolve and are formed by the vast majority of plants including grasses, clovers, apples, oranges, redwood and macrocarpa. In these the fungal partner gets right inside the cells of the root cortex. The fungi are generally microscopic and all that might be seen with the naked eye is that a well infected root is yellower than uninfected ones. The ectomycorrhizal fungi are much easier to see - they often produce mushrooms around the trees they are associated with and scraping the litter away from under.