ASSESSING THE EFFECTS OF MULCH, COMPOST TEA, AND CHEMICAL FERTILIZER ON SOIL MICROORGANISMS, EARLY GROWTH, BIOMASS PARTITIONING, AND TAXANE LEVELS IN FIELD-GROWN ROOTED CUTTINGS OF CANADA YEW (TAXUS CANADENSIS)

摘要

First-year growth results from two locations of field trials with Canada yew (Taxus canadensis) are described. After one year of treatments, inorganic fertilizer and organic fertilizer both significantly increased plant growth compared to the controls. Inorganic fertilizer increased top growth without a concomitant increase in root growth, thereby increasing the shootroot ratio compared to the controls and compost tea treated plants. In addition to evaluating the observed differences in morphometricmeasurements, this paper reports on the first-year differences in microorganisms. The relationship between these early differences in plant growth and soil microorganisms are also discussed.