Soil moisture levels affect mycorrhization during early stages of development of agroforestry plants

• Published in: Biology and fertility of soils 2013-07, Vol.49 (5), p.545-554
• Main Authors: Shukla, Ashok, Kumar, Anil, Jha, Anuradha, Salunkhe, Onkar, Vyas, Deepak
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Acaulospora; Agriculture; Agroforestry; Agronomy; Agronomy. Soil science and plant productions; Albizia procera; Biological and medical sciences; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Developmental stages; Economic plant physiology; Eucalyptus tereticornis; Field capacity; Flowers & plants; Forestry; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Glomus; Glomus intraradices; Life Sciences; Moisture content; Original Paper; Phaseolus; Plant species; Soil moisture; Soil science; Soil Science & Conservation; Soils; Symbiosis (nodules, symbiotic nitrogen fixation, mycorrhiza...); Triticum aestivum; Wheat
• ISSN: 0178-2762; 1432-0789
• DOI: 10.1007/s00374-012-0744-8

Plants respond differentially to different arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) as well as to the different soil moisture levels. Based on this background, the present study was carried out to investigate the effects of different levels of soil moisture and AMF inoculations on mycorrhization and growth of important agroforestry plants, viz., Phaseolus mungo , Triticum aestivum , Eucalyptus tereticornis , and Albizia procera . The experiments consisted of main treatment, i.e., three levels of soil moisture [field capacity (FC = 16 %), half-field capacity (FC/2 = 8 %) and double-field capacity (2×FC = 32 %)] and four subtreatments (mycorrhizal inoculations), viz., Acaulospora scrobiculata , Glomus cerebriforme , Glomus intraradices , and un-inoculated (control). AMF inoculations significantly ( P