SummarySustainable production of biomass for bioenergy relies on low-input crop production. Inoculation of bioenergy crops with plant growth-promoting endophytes has the potential to reduce fertilizer inputs through the enhancement of biological nitrogen fixation (BNF).Endophytes isolated from native poplar growing in nutrient-poor conditions were selected for a series of glasshouse and field trials designed to test the overall hypothesis that naturally occurring diazotrophic endophytes impart growth promotion of the host plants.Endophyte inoculations contributed to increased biomass over uninoculated control plants. This growth promotion was more pronounced with multi-strain consortia than with singlestrain inocula. Biological nitrogen fixation was estimated through 15 N isotope dilution to be 65% nitrogen derived from air (Ndfa). Phenotypic plasticity in biomass allocation and branch production observed as a result of endophyte inoculations may be useful in bioenergy crop breeding and engineering programs.

Plants that grow and thrive under abiotic stress often do so with the help of endophytic microorganisms. Although nitrogen-fixing (diazotrophic) endophytes colonize many wild plants, these natural relationships may be disrupted in cultivated crop species where breeding and genotype selection often occur under conditions of intensive fertilization and irrigation. Many energy crops including corn may still benefit from diazotrophic endophyte inoculations allowing for more efficient biomass production with less input of petroleum-derived fertilizer. A selection of diazotrophic endophytes isolated from willow (Salix sitchensis, Sitka willow) and poplar (Populus trichocarpa, black cottonwood) growing in nutrient-poor river sides were used as inoculum in three experiments testing the effect on plant growth and leaf level physiology of a sweet corn variety under various levels of applied nitrogen fertilizer. We report substantial growth promotion with improved leaf physiology of corn plants in response to diazotrophic endophyte inoculations. Significant gains of early biomass with a greater root : shoot ratio were found for plants receiving endophytic inocula over the uninoculated control groups regardless of the nitrogen level. Furthermore, inoculated plants exhibited consistently higher rates of net CO 2 assimilation than did those without endophytic inoculation. These results have beneficial implications for enhanced plant growth in a low-input system on nutrient-poor sites. The immediate increase of root mass observed in endophyte inoculated plants has the potential to provide better establishment and early growth in resource-limited environments. The initial results of this study also indicate that the beneficial effect from endophytes isolated from poplar and willow species is not restricted to the species from which they were initially isolated.

No abstract

Twenty open-pollinated families from a virginia pine (Pinus virginiana) seed orchard in South Carolina were planted and managed as Christmas trees at three sites. Retail value and related traits were assessed once the tests reached marketable size (4 years in the field). All traits assessed (except survival) proved to 1) be under a moderate degree of genetic control (family mean heritability = 0.68 for retail value) and 2) have a large range among open-pollinated family means ($11.42/tree to $22.00/tree, retail value) suggesting that they will response well to the traditional tree improvement approach of selection, breeding and testing. The retail value of the best five families tested averaged an increase of $3.47/tree or 20.7% more than the average. At a 6 × 6 ft (1.8 m) spacing [1,210 trees/acre (2,990 trees/ha)], these families would produce an increase in revenue of almost $4,200/acre ($10,387/ha). Much of this increase in value is a result of reducing the cull rate from 14.5% to 8.1%. Survival, height, crown density and straightness of these five families also exceeded the average of the 20 families tested.