COMPARING THE ASSOCIATION OF ARBUSCULAR MYCORRHIZAL FUNGI WITH WHEAT CROP FROM DISTRICT MARDAN AND CHARSADDA

Abstract

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) are one of the important microbes of the soil microflora which can interact with other soil microbes or plant roots. AM fungi have been known to improve nutrients uptake of plants from deep soil regions where plant roots cannot normally reach and results in improved plant growth. The present study was conducted to investigate the presence of AM fungi during various growth stages of Wheat (Triticum aestivum, L.) crops grown in different locations of District Mardan and District Charsadda, KP, Pakistan and to determine the relationship between AM fungi and physiochemical characteristic of soil. A total of fifteen wheat fields were studied at host growth stages (vegetative stage and fruiting stage). All the wheat fields were found to have AMF association ranged from 24-100%, 27-171gm-²⁰⁰ spores density. The results showed that the highest AMF root colonization and spores density has been found at fruiting stage as compared to vegetative stage. This study reports three species of AM fungi i.e. Glomus spp., Sclerocystis spp. and Acaulospora spp. from the studied sites on the basis of spore identification. This study also reports that in vegetative stage of wheat, the Glomus species was in abundance and in fruiting stage, Sclerocystis species was abundant. Glomus species was observed to be dominant at all stages and locations.