Canadian Forest Service Publications
Comparative efficacy of Chondrostereum Purpureum and chemical herbicides on red alder and bigleaf maple in British Columbia, Canada. 2002. Shamoun, S.F.; Hintz, W.E. Pages 21-23 in Proceedings of the Popular Summaries from the Fourth International Conference on Forest Vegetation Management, June 17-21, 2002, Nancy, France. Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique, Paris, France.
Year: 2002
Issued by: Pacific Forestry Centre
Catalog ID: 20564
Language: English
Availability: PDF (request by e-mail)
Abstract
Management of weedy hardwood species in the conifer plantations and utility rights-of-way (ROW) settings is essential to maximize the production of commercially valuable conifers and to maintain uninterrupted hydroelectric power service, respectively. Traditionally, periodic manual cutting of weedy tree species or spraying with chemical herbicides within conifer plantations and ROW have been used, but these approaches have distinct disadvantages such as environmental concerns, non-target effects and cost-effectiveness. This has necessitated more intensive search for alternative strategies for management of forest weeds. One viable option is the use of naturally occurring plant pathogenic fungi as inundative biological control strategy or mycoherbicides; i.e., the use of formulated products of indigenous fungal plant pathogens that are applied directly onto native target weeds (Wagner 1993, Shamoun 2000, Hintz et al. 2001). Since the late 1980s, a common indigenous fungal pathogen Chondrostereum purpureum (Pers. ex Fr.) Pouzar, has been considered as a biological control agent of many stump sprouting hardwood species. (Shamoun and Wall 1996, Shamoun and Hintz 1998, Jobidon 1998, Harper et al. 1999, Pitt et al. 1999). This strategy could considerably increase intervals between repeat cutting operations in conifer regeneration sites and ROW. The following operational field trials were established on industrial power lines ROWs on Vancouver Island and mainland, British Columbia (BC). The aim of these trials was to compare the efficacy of C. purpureum and chemical herbicides on stump sprouting of red alder (Alnus rubra Bong.) and bigleaf maple (Acer macrophyllum Pursh.).