Resistance breeding against voles in birch: possibilities for increasing resistance by provenance transfers1

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Abstract
Voles (mainly Microtus agrestis) are major pests in Nordic birch plantations. No feasible measures are known for controlling the damage due to voles during cyclic peak years. The results presented here indicate that there are large differences in palatability between different origins of one‐year‐old birch seedlings. These differences in resistance could not be explained by the success of the winter‐hardening process. The voles shunned very small seedlings, but after the seedlings reached normal dimensions, there was no correlation between palatability and plant size. Contrary to predictions, seedlings from a greenhouse with higher growth temperatures were more susceptible to vole damage. The prospects for breeding for resistance are considered promising because the seedlings of the most resistant V. Koski and J. Tahvanainen provided valuable comments on the manuscript. The English was checked by J. von Weissenberg. P. Manninen carried out the measurements and E. Matikainen drew the figures.