Forest restoration projects are designed to sequester carbon from the atmosphere, reduce erosion, enhance biodiversity and improve the social and economic conditions within the region.

Establishing Pine seedlings on unproductive and eroding grazing land in Central Chile

Establishing Eucalyptus seedlings on marginal land in Chile

Quillay plantation being established on degraded land

Newly planted Quillay seedlings (with rabbit protectors) on eroded land

Maturing forest established on grazing land

Thinning of forest to allow for optimum growth under government approved sustainable forestry plan

Land being site-prepared for planting

Using advanced R&D techniques Mikro-Tek has developed a natural biotechnology process that enhances plant survival, growth, and health.

Beneficial soil micro-organisms are collected in healthy forests and isolated in the lab

Selected species are mass-produced using biotechnology process

Various collected strains are applied to host plants to assess their effect on nutrient uptake

Root growth potential after out planting is also assessed for various plant species

Studies are undertaken to predict photosynthetic activity under drought stress conditions

Best strains are identified and applied in the tree nursery through standard irrigation system

Application of microbes in smaller nurseries done by hand watering

Assessment of seedlings for mycorrhizal colonization before field planting

To date, Mikro-Tek has established more than 7,500 hectares of forestry projects in Chile to generate 1.4 million carbon offset credits.

Pine seedlings planted with water infiltration ditches

Four-year-old pine trees in Chile

Four-year-old pine forest in Central Chile

25% of carbon is sequestered underground in the roots and mycorrhizal structures

Biodiversity benefits: bird nests, moisture capture and retention

Non-traditional timber products: Boldo tree species in understory provides tea

Boldo tea ready for shipping to international markets

Mycorrhizal hyphae on pine roots increase surface area for enhanced moisture and nutrient uptake

Two-year-old pine trees:
Treated with Mycorrhizae Non-Treated

Tree growth is measured every five years to calculate carbon sequestration rates

Pine: sequesters 30 tC02/hectare/year Eucalyptus: sequesters 25.5 tC02/hectare/year

Mycorrhizal Fungi

Our Technology

Mycorrhizae are natural soil microbes that improve the health and growth rates of plants. In nature, healthy soils contain these beneficial organisms, but they are deficient in eroded, heavily used and degraded soils. Industrial disturbance to the soil in large-scale agricultural practices, forestry cutovers, or mining activity, reduces or destroys these beneficial micro-organisms.

Applying the proper microbes to seedlings prior to planting provides a natural, biological means of maintaining plant vigor, increasing the plant’s resistance to soil-borne pathogens, and reducing the need for fertilizers and other chemicals such as herbicides. Application prior to field planting provides increased stress resistance to the seedlings before they are exposed to environmental stresses such as transplant shock, or extremes of temperature and moisture. In addition, mycorrhizae improve plant nutrition and therefore play a significant role in high yield crop production where environmental problems including soil erosion, soil depletion and water pollution with fertilizers, pesticides and animal wastes are a concern.

Mycorrhizae can be classified into two primary types: ecto-mycorrhizae, predominant in coniferous forest ecosystems (pine, spruce, fir etc.) and endo-mycorrhizae, which form associations with broad-leafed trees (maple, ash, walnut etc.) and with most agricultural, nursery and horticultural crops. Endomycorrhizae are also known as vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhizae, VA mycorrhizae or VAM. This name comes from their characteristic fungal structures–vesicles (V) and arbuscules (A)–which form within the cells of the roots and act as the nutrient interchange points between the beneficial mycorrhizal fungi and the plant.

Mikro-Tek’s products, registered under the Fertilizers Act with Agriculture Canada, include MIKRO-VAM, a mycorrhizal species that has a broad host range including most citrus, grain, and vegetable crops, bedding plants, grasses and deciduous trees, as well as MIKRO-CONE for conifer species.

For more information on mycorrhizal fungi, visit the website:http://microbewiki.kenyon.edu/index.php/Mycorrhizae

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