Planting a tree does not guarantee its survival. Underground, an alliance between its roots and certain fungi could help it obtain the water and nutrients it needs to establish itself.
A trial in Scotland recorded a 97 % survival rate among trees treated with mycorrhizal fungi, compared to 78 % among untreated ones, according to results released by Rhizocore Technologies.
The test, conducted with Forestry and Land Scotland, compared 400 treated trees with another 400 untreated. The public body warns that its scope was limited and calls for broader studies to confirm the observed differences.
Mycorrhizal Fungi
Small blocks containing beneficial fungi, developed in Scotland, aim to increase the survival of newly planted trees, with potential applications in drought-affected lands and areas prone to wildfires.
The technology is the work of Rhizocore Technologies, a biotech company born in 2021 out of the University of Edinburgh, which cultivates fungi at its Roslin facilities near the Scottish capital.
In a trial conducted in collaboration with Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS), the public body responsible for managing Scotland’s national forests, 97 % of trees treated with fungi survived, compared with 78 % of untreated trees, according to results released by the company.
However, FLS warned that the trial, conducted at Damside, in central Scotland, was limited: 400 treated trees were compared with another 400 untreated in two plots within a total area of 1.25 hectares.
“It’s a new field for us and the knowledge base and testing are still developing,” said Gareth Waters, head of forest management support at FLS.
The agency finds the differences observed on low-fertility soils encouraging, but insists that larger trials are needed to confirm the benefits.
An Ally Beneath the Soil
In a company laboratory, Toby Parkes holds a mushroom and a culture plate while explaining how his team isolates fungi gathered from the natural environment to use them in new plantings.
The company incorporates the fungi into small porous blocks that are placed beside the roots of young trees during planting. These are mycorrhizal fungi, which establish a mutualistic relationship with the trees: they receive sugars from them and extend their filaments underground to capture water and nutrients.
“These fungi are adapted to extract water and nutrients from the soil,” explained Parkes, cofounder and chief executive of Rhizocore, who highlighted that this association could help newly planted trees establish themselves.
Emma Craven, a microbiologist at the laboratory, explained that the team selects fungi suited to the conditions of each site. “We prefer to maximize the chances that it will work, that it will properly colonize the ground, and that what we introduce is native to the area where we will plant,” she stated.
To this end, researchers collect samples, isolate them, and culture them under controlled conditions before incorporating them into the blocks.
Drought and Fires
Parkes explained that this technology could also be applied in Spain, though it would be necessary to use local fungi adapted to the soil conditions and forest species there.
According to the scientist, the fungi can help young trees access available moisture, but their capacity has limits: in the face of extreme drought, he acknowledged, they might not be enough to keep them alive.
Forest recovery after fires is another potential application.
Parkes explained that fire can destroy part of the soil microorganisms that normally help trees to establish themselves.
Nevertheless, the specific results of post-fire trials are still pending, and the company expects to obtain more data over the next year or two.
For its part, FLS established larger experimental plots last year to study the potential benefits of fungi under different forest conditions, though it still does not have results from those new trials.
