Mycorrhization of micropropagated mature wild cherry (Prunus avium L.) and common ash (Fraxinus excelsior L.)

Abstract

Micropropagated plants of common ash and wild cherry were inoculated with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi during a 20-day weaning period, after which they were transferred to two different substrata supplemented with slow-release fertilizer. After a 13-week growth period, the stem height and diameter of the ash plants which had been inoculated with Glomus intraradices were three times greater than those of uninoculated control plants. Increasing the peat content of the substratum improved growth of ash. Four weeks after being transferred to pots, shoots of wild cherry inoculated with G. intraradices or G. deserticola were taller and stems thicker than those of control plants, whereas those inoculated with Gigaspora rosea had shorter shoots and thinner stems than the controls. These beneficial effects of fungal inoculation on plant development disappeared after 13 weeks. Increasing the peat content, but not the level of fertiliser of the substratum, improved growth of both inoculated and uninoculated wild cherry.

Enhanced growth of wild cherry using micropropagated plants and mycorrhizal inoculation

“…Plants showed no difference among treatments, in height or leaf numbers during the post-weaning phase, as previously reported (Lovato et al, 1994), and during that stage mycorrhizal colonisation in the inoculated treatments ranged between 70 and 80%. In this experiment, mycorrhizal root colonisation varied between 50 and 60%, with no difference among treatments.…”

“…Differential allocation and storage of sugars in roots and shoots may affect plant development of mycorrhizal plants (Estaún et al, 1999). The G. deserticola isolate used in this experiment previously showed greater effects on the growth of wild cherry and another woody plant (common ash) in the early stages of plant growth (Lovato et al, 1994), as compared with two other AMF isolates.…”

“…Concentrations of nutrients, sugar and hormones used during weaning or in the post-weaning periods can also interact with the establishment of the mycorrhizal association (Dutra et al, 1996;Souza et al, 1996). In a previous work, we reported that beneficial effects of mycorrhizal inoculation on growth of micropropagated wild cherry and ash during the weaning phase disappeared when plants were transferred to substrates with fertiliser levels used in commercial nurseries (Lovato et al, 1994). This was probably due to the high levels of nutrients in the growth media.…”

“…F12/1 plants were micropropagated as previously described (Hammatt and Grant, 1993). Microplants with one or two root primordia were transferred to trays containing a 2:1:1 (v:v:v) mixture of clay loam soil, perlite and gravel (Lovato et al, 1994 , 19-22°C, 70% relative humidity), and then transferred to 2-L pots in a greenhouse (July-October, 19-24°C, light supplemented to 16 h a day). Two steam-disinfected substrates and two levels of fertilisation, equivalent to those adopted by nurserymen, were used.…”

Micorriza arbuscular e matéria orgânica na aclimatização de mudas de bananeira, cultivar nanicão

“…Pesquisas com diferentes culturas têm mostrado a importância do emprego de FMAs na produção de mudas micropropagadas (NIEMI e VESTBERG, 1992;LOVATO et al, 1994). Na otimização deste processo considera-se, como fator de grande relevância, a composição do substrato.…”