diff --git a/maven-core/src/test/java/org/apache/maven/project/PomConstructionTest.java b/maven-core/src/test/java/org/apache/maven/project/PomConstructionTest.java
index 26990d3190..8012124fe0 100644
--- a/maven-core/src/test/java/org/apache/maven/project/PomConstructionTest.java
+++ b/maven-core/src/test/java/org/apache/maven/project/PomConstructionTest.java
@@ -1083,9 +1083,10 @@ public void testReportingPluginConfig()
     {
         PomTestWrapper pom = buildPom( "reporting-plugin-config/sub" );
 
-        assertEquals( 2, ( (List<?>) pom.getValue( "reporting/plugins[1]/configuration/stringParams" ) ).size() );
+        assertEquals( 3, ( (List<?>) pom.getValue( "reporting/plugins[1]/configuration/stringParams" ) ).size() );
         assertEquals( "parentParam", pom.getValue( "reporting/plugins[1]/configuration/stringParams[1]/stringParam[1]" ) );
         assertEquals( "childParam", pom.getValue( "reporting/plugins[1]/configuration/stringParams[1]/stringParam[2]" ) );
+        assertEquals( "  preserve space  ", pom.getValue( "reporting/plugins[1]/configuration/stringParams[1]/stringParam[3]" ) );
         assertEquals( "true", pom.getValue( "reporting/plugins[1]/configuration/booleanParam" ) );
     }    
     
diff --git a/maven-core/src/test/java/org/apache/maven/project/harness/Xpp3DomNodePointer.java b/maven-core/src/test/java/org/apache/maven/project/harness/Xpp3DomNodePointer.java
index a628edcd0e..59ce300eac 100644
--- a/maven-core/src/test/java/org/apache/maven/project/harness/Xpp3DomNodePointer.java
+++ b/maven-core/src/test/java/org/apache/maven/project/harness/Xpp3DomNodePointer.java
@@ -78,14 +78,14 @@ public int compareChildNodePointers( NodePointer pointer1, NodePointer pointer2
     @Override
     public Object getValue()
     {
-        return getValue(node);
+        return getValue( node );
     }
 
     private static Object getValue( Xpp3Dom node )
     {
         if ( node.getValue() != null )
         {
-            return node.getValue().trim();
+            return node.getValue();
         }
         else
         {
diff --git a/maven-core/src/test/resources-project-builder/reporting-plugin-config/sub/pom.xml b/maven-core/src/test/resources-project-builder/reporting-plugin-config/sub/pom.xml
index e6018dd604..b0768271f5 100644
--- a/maven-core/src/test/resources-project-builder/reporting-plugin-config/sub/pom.xml
+++ b/maven-core/src/test/resources-project-builder/reporting-plugin-config/sub/pom.xml
@@ -36,8 +36,9 @@
         <artifactId>maven-it-plugin-configuration</artifactId>
         <version>2.1-SNAPSHOT</version>
         <configuration>
-            <stringParams combine.children="append">
-            <stringParam>childParam</stringParam>
+          <stringParams combine.children="append">
+            <stringParam>  childParam  </stringParam>
+            <stringParam xml:space="preserve">  preserve space  </stringParam>
           </stringParams>
         </configuration>
       </plugin>