Description of project
The absence or very small proportion of parts of populations with “climax-growth strategy” faces young Norway spruce stands with problem in mountain regions. The main cause is an improper sorting of seedlings and transplants which was applied in forest nurseries in previous time period (slowly-growing seedlings were culled). The project is designed to propose a system solution of growing planting stock adapted to mountain localities which means that proportion of plants with “climax growth strategy” will be increased. Possible combinations of application both vegetative and generative propagation will be evaluated. In nursery, spruce progenies of mountain-population origin will be evaluated in terms of morphological, physiological and anatomical features including investigation of their growth intensity. The different-growth spruces will be exposed to deliberately applied stresses (e.g. air pollution, drought, and frost) and tested for resistance to them.