Electrolyte leakage from fine roots of conifer seedlings: a rapid index of plant vitality following cold storage

Two-year-old Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis (Bong.) Carr.). Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii (Mirb.) Franco), and Japanese larch (Larix leptolepis (Sieb. & Zucc.) Gord.) were cold-stored at 1 degrees C for 1 to 6 months. In April at the end of the cold storage period, root growth potential and electrolyte leakage from the fine roots were assessed and related to plant survival and height growth. After cold storage. seedlings were planted on a second-rotation, cultivated site. In two experiments planted in 1989 and 1990. fine-root electrolyte leakage was closely correlated with survival and height growth. Fine-root leakage has also practical advantages over other available methods of assessing plant vitality after cold storage.