Mycorrhizal Symbiosis for Enhancement of Nursery Grown Tectona Grandis L. and Gmelina Arborea Roxb.

Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi are soil fungi which form mutualistic associations with plant roots which often promote plant growth through increased mineral nutrient acquisitions from the highly weathered tropical soils. In the field, seedlings infected with mycorrhiza often survive and grow better than the controls. Thus this study aims to evaluate the effectivity of AM in affecting growth of two forest plantation species i.e. Tectona grandis and Gmelina arborea seedlings. The effectivity of these AM inocula were assessed using both quantitative and qualitative analyses. This study involved the use of two types of AM designated as MM and 1M from different origin. The effectivity of these AM inocula were initially evaluated based on standard protocols; spore count and MPN bioassay. Following that, effectivity of these inocula were also assessed based on growth performance of T. grandis and G. arborea. The seedlings were grown in a controlled environment in the glasshouse for 21 weeks and growth measurements were taken every three weeks. This nursery experiment adopted a randomised complete factorial design of three media and four inocula treatments with six replications. In addition, isozyme analysis and root colonisation for host preference were conducted to support this study.

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