Colloque

Case Studies of Arbuscular Mycorrhiza Fungal (AMF) Inoculation in Florida

David Sylvia

Membre a labase

David Sylvia

Résumé du colloque

Three case studies from Florida will illustrate the potential importance of AMF in the field. (i) Coastal sand dunes are stabilized naturally by mycorrhizal grasses; however, nourishment sand used to control erosion is often devoid of AMF. Inoculation in the nursery resulted in well-colonized plants and, 20 months after outplanting, inoculated plants had >200% increase in biomass compared to noninoculated plants. (ii) Establishment of tropical legumes with pasture grasses is difficult in central Florida. We studied the effect of inoculation with two pH-adapted isolates of AMF on the growth and nutrient content of two tropical forage legumes at various P levels. Shoot dry mass of both legumes was greater for plants inoculated with AMF than control plants and resulted in a 30% savings in P fertilizer. (iii) It is less clear what role AMF play in intensively managed agriculture systems. We conducted a field study to evaluate the effects of AMF and water management on the growth and grain yield of highly fertilized maize. We observed a positive response to AMF inoculation across irrigation levels (1,170 for biomass and 802 kg ha-1 for grain). Thus, even highly fertilized plants may respond to AMF when subjected to drought stress.