Poplar biomass production at phytomanagement sites is significantly enhanced by mycorrhizal inoculation

- The inoculation treatment did not influence the overall poplar structure.
- The Skado cultivar produced more biomass than the I214 cultivar at both sites.
- The I214 clone suffered more from climatic conditions than Skado clone.
- The mycorrhizal inoculation improved the Skado biomass production at both sites.
- The field inoculation led to significantly enhanced plant performance.

Afforestation of trace element (TE)-contaminated soil, notably with fast growing trees producing large biomass has been demonstrated to be an attractive option for their bioremediation. Mycorrhizal fungi can form symbiotic associations with plants, contributing to TE tolerance and participating actively in bioremediation processes. We studied the effects of mycorrhizal inoculation on the growth of two poplar clones (Skado and I214), to large-scale. Two TE-contaminated sites of ca. 1 ha (Pierrelaye and Fresnes-sur-Escaut, France) were planted with 2200 trees, and were either inoculated with a mixed commercial inoculum or not-inoculated and allometric parameters were determined after 2 and 4 years of growth. The height diameter relationships remained linear overtime, although the second period of the experiment has been more favorable to growth of the Skado clone and its survival rates were higher compared than those of the I214 clone, at both sites. The inoculation with mycorrhizal significantly impacted the biomass production of the Skado clone at both sites, despite striking differences in soil structure and contamination. In overall, this bioaugmentation option with mycorrhizal fungi influenced more poplar growth than soil contamination and highly improved its biomass production.