Effect of potato starch application on wood cell parameters of Scots pine (Pinus Sylvestris L.)

Koprowski et al. 2015 investigated the effect of N, P, K elements contained in wastes from the Forest Wastewater Treatment (FWT) zone, entering a forest area from a potato starch factory. It was found that the use of starch causes a reduction in the photosynthetic efficiency and growth of Scots pine. The study extends the tree ring analysis of Scots pine by cell wood anatomy. It was examined how cell parameters like cell wall thickness (CWT), lumen diameter (LD) and ring width (RW) responded to fertiliser supply in different years. Three sites were distinguished at the FWT zone. Site 1 and 2 were located in the FWT zone, whilst Site 3 was a control site situated outside this zone. Trees growing at Site 1 were fertilised, whilst trees growing at Site 2 were unfertilised despite being located within the FWT zone. The amount of water supplied and the concentration of elements varied over the years, which, in combination with the supply of fertiliser, clearly influenced the cellular structure of the growths, as was seen in the microscopic examination. For anatomical analyses, one of the most representative and highly correlated trees from each site was selected: site 1 - 0.78, site 2 - 0.74, site 3 - 0.77. The analysis was based on growth years 1961-2011. Preliminary climatic studies confirm a negligible effect of precipitation and temperature on observed variations in cell parameters at these sites. Thus the results obtained seem to depend mainly on fertilisation and water supply.