72 research outputs found
Vesicular-arbuscular Mycorrhizal Inoculation of Hawaiian Plants: A Conservation Technique for Endangered Tropical Species
Forty species of plants (including 28 species endemic to the Hawaiian
Islands) were evaluated in the greenhouse for their response to inoculation
with the vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus Glomus intraradices
Schenck & Smith. Seedlings, cuttings, and established plants were inoculated.
Several kinds of growth media were used. Increased growth and survival most
frequently occurred when plants were grown in a gravel or fine sand medium
that included calcined clay (up to 50% by volume) or sphagnum peat (up to
20%). Significant increases in height, weight, leaf number and size, and survival
were noted in 10 of 14 species of seedlings grown in media in which peat content
was 20% or less. Mycorrhizae were only rarely present in the noninoculated
plants except for plants grown from cuttings. The latter routinely
formed mycorrhizae in the absence of added inoculum. Addition of mycorrhizal
fungi to potting mixes appears to have value as a conservation technique
for some plants that are difficult to propagate
Mycorrhizal Status of Gunnera petaloidea in Hawai'i
Eight collections of the endemic Hawaiian angiosperm Gunnera
petaloidea ssp. kauaiensis were examined for mycorrhizae. Soil-inhabiting roots
of all specimens possessed extensive vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhizae 01AM).
Aerial roots lacked mycorrhizae. Soil from the root zones of the plants contained
propagules of VAM fungi, and spores of two species of VAM fungi were found
in the soil. The discovery of mycorrhizae in Gunnera adds another symbiont to
the Gunnera-Nostoc symbiosis
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