Hydroseeding pine-grass-legume mixtures for erosion control and reforestation of mine spoils

Growth and mycorhizal colonization of surface-seeded pine (Pinus spp.) as affected by two mine-spoil types (siltstone and sandstone), two fertilizer levels (control and 100 kg/ha each of N, P, and K), and three mycorrhizal inoculation treatments (control, 56 kg/ha pine litter, and 250g/ha Pisolithus tinctorius spores) were evaluated in a greenhouse experiment. The effects of four nurse crops and three fertilizer levels on ground cover, spoil erosion, and establishment of hydroseeded pines on a recontoured strip-mine in southwestern Virginia were also studied. In the greenhouse experiment, germination was highest (12, 55, and 34% for P. strobus, P. virginiana, and P. taeda, respectively) in non-fertilized siltstone, but survival was highest (85, 100, and 95% for the same species) in non-fertilized sandstone. Seedlings grown in fertilized sandstone had significantly higher stern and root biomass than those Mycorrhizal in any other inoculation spoil and treatments sandstone but not in siltstone spoil. In the field experiment, use fertilizer combination. were effective in of a nurse crop significantly increased ground cover over the controls, but the addition of a nurse crop or fertilizer resulted in a decrease in pine establishment of at least 46%. The only nurse crop to obtain the minimum 75% ground cover required by law was a Lolium perenne, Festuca rubra, and Lotus corniculatus mixture which, at 60 kg N/ha, reduced spoil erosion by about 70% over the controls while still allowing the establishment of 6,000 trees/ha.

Name thesis:degree_name

M.S.

Level thesis:degree_level

masters

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Forestry

Department dc:contributor.department

Forestry

Grantor dc:publisher

Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

Year dc:date.issued

1983

Author dc:creator

• Preve, Ricardo E.

Statement dc:rights

• In Copyright

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Language dc:language.iso

en

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/10919/101226

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/101226