Palatability of silver birch seedlings to root voles Microtus oeconomus

We used laboratory feeding trials to test the palatability of silver birch Betula pendula seedlings to root voles Microius oeconomus Seedlings of two B pendula families (A and B) were grown in growth chambers on three soil types and under two light intensities. Seedlings from family A grew taller and had more resin droplets on their bark than seedlings from family B The more light or nutrients the seedlings received the taller they grew and the more resm droplets they had on their bark We offered 10 root voles both basal and top 5–10 cm segments of winter‐dormant seedlings one treatment at a time (no‐choice arrangement) in a random order The seedlings grown on low‐fertility soil were eaten more than those grown on non‐fertilized or fertilized peat The top segments of seedlings grown in low light were slightly more eaten than those grown in high light Birch family did not have any effect on the consumption Consumption correlated negatively with the amount of resin droplets on the bark when the seedling material was compared over different treatments These results indicate that root voles would prefer young birch seedlings that have low amount of resin droplets on the bark and that grow in poor soils or under low light conditions