Rhizospheres of crop plants are complexes of chemical and microbial interactions. Of importance, arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) are beneficial microorgansims associated with roughly eighty-percent of terrestrial land plants. In this mutualistic symbiosis, the fungus receives the photosynthetic product (sugar) fixed from its host by photosynthesis. In return, the host plant gains a plethora of benefits from the fungus such as enhanced nutrient uptakes, protection against both biotic (soil-borne root pathogens, insect attack) and abiotic (drought, heavy metal pollution, and soil salinity) stresses. Taxonomically, AMF belong to a new erected phylum called Glomeromycota. The field study was conducted in a farm owned and supervised by The Great Man-Made Project in February 2019. The present study was performed to determine the presence or the absence of AMF in a field cultivated with wheat crops (Triticum aestivum, L.) during the vegetative stage, and also to investigate soil physiochemical properties effect on AMF colonization. Results showed that colonization of wheat plant roots were significantly low. The result clearly implies that high-input fertilizers viz., phosphorus fertilization, and agricultural practices such as intensive tillage drastically reduced AMF colonization.
Role of Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi on Plant Growth and Reclamation of Barren Soil with Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) crop
