Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungal Diversity and Root Colonization in Pisum sativum

Author: Aishwarya, Manjula, Payal, Shivani Kaundal, Ravinder Kumar, Ritika Singh4, Shubhi Avasthi and Ajay K. Gautam*

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Abstract

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) are soil fungi which form a mutualistic symbiosis with the roots of plants and enhanced uptake of immobile nutrients from the soil. The present study was carried out to study the association of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) with roots and rhizosphere of pea (Pisum sativum). A total of 17 AMF fungi belonging to 5 genera 17 species were isolated and identified from the rhizosphere soil. The dominant genus was Glomus (6 species), followed by Acaulospora (5 species); Boletus, Gigaspora (3 species), Scutellospora (2 species) and Sclerocystis represented by single species. Microscopic analyses of root samples revealed a variable degree of colonization by AM fungi. The different microscopic characters like size, colour, details of the wall layers and the nature of their subtending hyphae were also investigated to during this study.

Keywords

AM fungi, pea, root colonization, Mid-hill conditions, Himachal Pradesh

Conclusion

In conclusion, the present study was focused mainly on investigation of pea (Pisum sativum L.) roots and rhizosphere soil samples for the association of Arbuscular Mycorrhizal fungi. As pea is one of the major commercial crop of mid hill regions of Himachal Pradesh and the associations of AM Fungi in general may be useful to improve soil microbial status and overall performance of these plants. considering the importance of pea as commercial crop and usefulness of AM fungi, further studies should be focused on the evaluation of dominant mycorrhizal fungi association with agricultural crops and impact on plant growth and metabolite production.

References

INTRODUCTION Pea (Pisum sativum L.) is a common leguminous crop belonging to the family “Fabaceae. “Faba” comes from Latin word which simply means “beans”. It is third most important pulse crop commonly grown worldwide over six-million-hectare area. The major pea producing countries of the world are Germany, Italy, China and Canada followed by India, Australia, and the United States. France, Canada and Australia are major exporters of pea as they utilize over two million hectares of land area for pea cultivation. As per FAO Stat. (2014), pea occupies 4th position (10.53%) in area under cultivation and 5th position in total production (6.96%). Like other countries of the world, India also occupies a key position in pea production. Uttar Pradesh is the major pea growing state of India, produces about 49 % of total pea produced. In addition, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Maharashtra are also the major pea growing states of the country. Himachal Pradesh, a hilly state of India occup

How to cite this article

Aishwarya, Manjula, Payal, Shivani Kaundal, Ravinder Kumar, Ritika Singh, Shubhi Avasthi and Ajay K. Gautam (2022). Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungal Diversity and Root Colonization in Pisum sativum. Biological Forum – An International Journal, 14(1): 1626