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Low Phosphorus availability in soil is worldwide a frequent major constraint for crops. Rhizobial strains, beneficial N2-fixing symbiotic partners of legumes, were reported to solubilize both organic and inorganic complex phosphates. Thus they may play a significant role as plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) in the biofertilization of crops. Natural rock phosphate may play a key role in sustainable agriculture, resulting in economic and environmental benefits. This work aims to evidence the capacity of rhizobial strains nodulating Vicia faba L. plants in Marrakech-Haouz region (Morocco) to solubilize Moroccan rock phosphate in vitro in either agar or liquid medium and to evaluate and compare the effect of these strains on growth and phosphorus uptake by V. faba plants of two Moroccan varieties (Defes and Aguadulce). Four rhizobial strains, contrasting for phosphate solubilization on agar medium, were further studied on liquid medium. RHOF147 and RHOF174 strains formed clear halos around colonies (1.37 cm and 1.2 respectively after 15 days); opposite RHOF170 and RHOF171 strains did not produce halo. The four strains were able to mobilize rock phosphate for growth in liquid medium (up to 0.59 mg/L of assimilated phosphorus). Lower pH values and most mobilized phosphorus production were registered for RHOF147 and RHOF174 strains. By screening the four rhizobial strains for growth on Chrome Azurol S (CAS) medium, only RHOF171 strain formed orange halo indicating its capacity to produce siderophores. Greenhouse experiments were undertaken including comparison of inoculated plants with these four rhizobial strains in the presence of rock phosphate as sole P source versus non-inoculated plants growing on KH2PO4 as sole P source (P-fertilized plants). Results show that the root length, the root dry weight and the ratio root /shoot dry weights were generally higher in the inoculated plants than in the P-fertilized plants, indicating the adaptation of the inoculated

The quality of peeled veneers is generally quoted considering 3 main criteria: surface roughness, thickness variations and lathe checking. This last criterion impacts on mechanical properties of by-products. It is well known that lathe checking occurrence can be reduced applying a good hygrothermal treatment of the round-wood before peeling coupled with optimised setting of pressure bar on the peeling lathe. It is also well known that thicker the veneer is and more difficult it is to reduce lathe checking and the other veneer defects. The tendency being to manufacture more eco-friendly engineering wood products using less glue, it is of interest to design such products with thicker layers and so less glue lines. But using ticker veneers should lead to a deterioration of final products mechanical properties. To quantify this effect, we have made 20-21mm thick LVL (Laminated Veneer Lumber) boards of beech (Fagus sylvatica) with various compositions (veneers 1, 3 or 5 mm thick). In order to obtained veneers enclosing different grades, several bolts of a same tree have been peeled following 4 different modalities changing wood conditioning temperature (20 / 70°C) and pressure bar settings (bar acting or not). The quality of all the veneers has been quantified before gluing. In total, 12 sets of boards have been produced for non destructive and destructive mechanical tests. The main results of these exploratory experiments are: a quite low weakening of LVL mechanical properties when increasing veneer thickness. the non destructive prediction of MOE by vibration seems not so good on LVL with thick veneers, especially in the case of edgewise loading, probably because of the presence of important lathe checks. in some configuration, and especially when using thick veneers, it could be benefit to load LVL flatwise rather than edgewise. for the measurement of shear strength on LVL, the 5-point bending test increases its efficiency when increasing veneer thickness. To properly