Health Condition of European Beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) According to Provenances in International Provenance Trial

Nevenka Ćelepirović, Aikaterini Dounavi, Mladen Ivanković, Heinz Rennenberg, Anamarija Jazbec, Marija Gradečki Poštenjak, Miran Lanšćak, Sanja Bogunović, Sanja Novak Agbaba
2021 South-East European Forestry  
The performance of European beech ( Fagus sylvatica L.) is severely threatened by abiotic and biotic stresses, but the resilience of its provenances from distinct geographic areas has not been sufficiently studied. Therefore, the performance of European beech was investigated in an international provenance trial consisting of twenty-one natural populations originating from Central Europe and Southeast Europe located on Medvednica Mountain (Croatia). The performance of European beech was
more » ... ated by characterizing I) damage types, II) crown damage intensity, III) damage frequency, and IV) clustering of provenances based on damage types. Anthracnose, galls, chewing damages, and aphids were recorded on leaves, and canker on the trunk and branches. The crown damage intensity was minute (less than 10%) for all types of disease. Anthracnose was the most common damage, followed in descending order by galls, canker, chewing damages and aphids. When the types of damage were analysed using descriptive statistics (frequency analysis and clustering), significant differences were recorded between provenances (χ2=322.19, p<0.0001). European beech provenances were classified into four clusters. Aphids and galls caused the least and the highest damage, respectively, in each cluster, except for Cluster 4, where anthracnose caused the highest damage. The results of this study showed generally good health condition of European beech provenances originating from Central and Southeast Europe in the period of the investigation.
doi:10.15177/seefor.21-14 fatcat:dmg42gpfwfa6hnq42ern542lyi