Abstract: As tailing of coal mining, 20 million tons of coal gangue generated every year caused severer environmental problem for the mining area. To probe the possibility of using ectomycorrhiza to rehabilitate the coal gangue mountain, the paper investigated the colony of selected ectomycorrhizal fungi Gomphidium viscidus in extraction of coal gangue and the growth of the infected Pinus bungeana seedlings in a medium mix with coal gangue. The experimental results showed that G. viscidus mycelium grew well in 85% coal gangue extraction, but did not survive in the pure coal gangue extraction (100%). Furthermore, Pinus bungeana seedlings infected with ectomycorrhizal fungi increased the survival ratio under the coal gangue stress. The biomass and lateral roots were significantly more than that of non-infected seedlings. In pure coal gangue the seedlings and the ectomycorrhizal fungi hardly survived and developed. However, mixture of 15% normal soil with the coal gangue dramatically increased the chance of survival and growth of pine seedlings. That suggests that it may be necessary to supplement engineering measure to mix the uncontaminated soil for achieving the rehabilitation of coal gangue.

Key words: ectomycorrhiza, Gomphidium viscidus, Pinus bungeana, coal gangue