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Possibilities for Manipulating Mycorrhizal Associations in Crops

OAR@ICRISAT

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Relation http://oar.icrisat.org/3898/
 
Title Possibilities for Manipulating Mycorrhizal Associations in Crops
 
Creator Lee, K K
Wani, S P
 
Subject Food legumes
Plant Pathology
 
Description Vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhizae (VAM) occur in the roots of most crops and are known to play an
important role in crop growth. Legumes are quite responsive to VAM, especially in soils with low
available phosphorus (P) levels. Possible approaches to manipulating VAM associations may be
(1) inoculation with selected VAM fungi, (2) selection of plant genotypes that are conducive to
colonization by efficient VAM fungi, and (3) establishment of a soil environment that favors in-
creased VAM number and activity. This chapter evaluates the feasibility of each of these possible
approaches, using appropriate examples from the literature andfrom our experience.
Manipulating VAM associations through inoculation is not feasible on a field scale unless pure
VAM fungi can be grown in large quantities by standard microbiological techniques. There is also
increasing evidence that the magnitude of VAM activity differs among plant genotypes, and nu-
merous studies have indicated that VAM fungal status can be altered by soil management. Our
experience in exploiting the VAM fungus along with the use of rock phosphate in West Africa has
revealed the possibility of improving crop production in low-P soils, using rock phosphate as a P
fertilizer.
 
Date 1991
 
Type Conference or Workshop Item
PeerReviewed
 
Format application/pdf
 
Language en
 
Rights —
 
Identifier http://oar.icrisat.org/3898/1/Possibilities_for_manipulating_micorhyzal_KKL_SPW.pdf
Lee, K K and Wani, S P (1991) Possibilities for Manipulating Mycorrhizal Associations in Crops. In: Proceedings of the International Workshop on Phosphorus Nutrition of Grain Legumes, 8‑11 Feb. 1990, ICRISAT Patancheru, Andhra Pradesh, India.