Evaluation of the potential of selected cereal and legume host plants for using them as trap culture of Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi (AMF) for inoculum production

Abstract

Arbuscular mycorrhizal Fungi (AMF) are soil micro-organisms that increase plant nutrient up take by extending the roots absorbing area. AM fungi helps plants to adapt in different weather condition by creating positive impact on ecosystem. Unfortunately, they cannot be cultured on artificial media and necessitae the search of effective plants to trap them in their roots for inoculum production. The aim of this study was to identify suitable host plants used for mass production of Arbuscular Mycorrhiaza Fungi (AMF). In these processes a trap culture was established under greenhouse to extract spores from soil by wet sieving and decanting methods. Characterization of spores and root colonization were done based on morphological features and the data was analyzed by using statistical software SPSS. The host plant showed high mycorrhization with typical structures (arbuscules, hyphae and vesicles), spore density and diversity. The data showed that spore density was between 23.6 – 11.7 spores’ g-1 soil and the AMF were identified into 13 genera and 27 AMF species collected from all trap cultures. Sorghum and maize plants induced higher percentage of mycorrhizal response with high spore count (23.36 and 22.06) in spore count and root colonization sorghum 94% and maize 89% than the legume plants respectively. Among host plants the highest species diversity of species was detected from the trap culture of clover. The results showed that sorghum and maize plant were more suitable host plant for AMF spore propagation and that clover was preferable to get more diversity.